


Radioactive Cognition

by Nixoid (orphan_account)



Category: Mother 1 | EarthBound Zero | EarthBound Beginnings, Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound, Mother 3, Mother 4
Genre: Civil wars, Cognition, Gen, Mementos, Radios, Tags to be updated as story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-01-25 14:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12533608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Nixoid
Summary: Taken from my fanfiction.net account.Awakened with amnesia, Travis is dragged into a dystopian world with little to no memories about his life. He accompanies an old friend with the sole intent to reclaim his memories. But little does he know, realities that may seem too good to be true, probably is. [Mother 4 oriented fanfiction. Contains OC's and possible spoilers. Read at your own risk]





	1. Awakening

To remember his own birth vividly. He was really special.

It all started with the light at the end of the tunnel. He didn't know where he was at the time, but remembered every detail.

He was in his mother's womb.

Darkness surrounded him until he felt a constant pushing motion. The light edged closer and closer until he popped out. Just like that.

He remembered the sound of him crying. What for? He doesn't even know.

"Honey, look! Our new baby boy!" A woman was saying.

"Well, dear, it's official. We have too many boys in the family." replied a man.

The hospital room was filled with laughter.

"Well, it's time for the moment of truth."

**_Name this child._ **

"...! I think I'll call him ...!"

He heard everything so clearly. Why couldn't he hear his name?

"He'll go far. All our boys will go far."

"No doubt they'll argue and bicker about the littlest of things. But in the end..."

_They'll all need each other._

_All three of them._

_Nobody can take that away from him.  
_

The newborn heard a voice. A young voice, filled somewhat with despair.

_Don't you die on me, damn it! ...!_

_...!_

_Wake up, ...!_

He couldn't hear his name. He doesn't know who he is.

The memory became cloudy. It faded away into darkness.

So many questions, so little answers.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

"He seems to be regaining consciousness." Emanated a voice from somewhere. "Inform our client."

The boy flickered in and out of consciousness. His eyes strained under the bright lights that was shinning on him. Moaning to imply his discomfort, the lights turned off. He fully awakened to see a room filled with people. Some were dressed as scientists and doctors. Others were just careful observers, taking notes on clipboards and recording themselves saying something.

All the noise died down by what seemed to be a hand from the lead doctor. He checked the boy's condition to ensure that he was fully awake.

"Ah, I see you've finally awakened." The doctor jotted something down onto his clipboard.

The boy looked around the room. Everyone was staring intently at him.

"Do you have difficulty speaking?"

The boy didn't respond.

"Do you understand the words that I am speaking?"

The boy nodded. To test the response, the doctor pulled a picture out of a folder and held it up. It was a picture of an ATM mounted against a wall.

"Point to the letter A."

The boy observed the picture for a moment. Noticing the acronym ATM, he pointed to the first letter.

The doctor nodded.

"Do you remember who you are? Or where you came from? When were you born? Please try to relax as you remember."

_When was I born? Who am I? I don't know._

The boy shook his head.

"That is unfortunate." The doctor announced. He turned to the others, informing them that he retained basic logic and knowledge, but not his memories. They couldn't rule it out as amnesia.

The doctor called for four people. Two adults, male and female. Two kids, one with short brown hair and another with long black hair, both male. _Could they all be family? What do they have to do with me?_

"Do you remember who we are?" The woman asked.

The boy tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, probably to imply that he didn't.

"We're your parents. And this is your brother."

The two males stepped forward and eyed the boy, trying to make him remember.

"You're my parents, right? I believe you, but I'm sorry. I don't remember you." The boy finally said.

The bright smiles that once covered their faces turned into frowns. All four of them disappeared into the crowd of people.

"I have your records here. I can tell you the basic information you need to know." The doctor said. But the boy shoved him away and took the papers for himself to read.

…

His name was Travis Windrop. Born to English Parents. He is the youngest child, even though he was the second child. He had an older brother named Zackary Windrop, who was 4 years older than his younger sibling.

He was an exceptionally hard working student, formerly attending a private school and earning various scholarships from colleges regarding his excellent study habits and how they could promote his future in architect design.

Apparently he was dating a girl named Meryl. They have yet to break up since their first encounter at age 11.

…

 _Is this really me?_ Travis thought. _There's gotta be more than that. There's something that's missing._

"Do you remember more about yourself?" The doctor asked.

"I have an exciting life." He said bluntly.

"Well that's good for you." The doctor remarked sarcastically. "Now let me tell you why you're here."

According to statistics, the average human being uses only ten percent of his brain at a time. In the case of Travis, he can do more than that. Careful studies have proven that, at a time, the amount of brain usage was high. An interesting phenomenon, no? Well it was, until he had the ability to shoot fire out of his hands and bend electricity around him. Informing the government, he was placed under watch and became the test rat for many experiments, some of which would've killed an ordinary person. And he wasn't the only one. There were cases popping up everywhere regarding these people. They've been rounded up into a test facility no differently.

Everyone began calling these powers Psionics (PSI) or Psychokinesis (PK), both of which were interchangeable terms. The government had laws passed for the capture of these PSI-wielding people and a reward for anyone who can do so.

The reason Travis was in the hospital was because of one of those life-threatening experiments. His task was to bend and control 1.2 Gigawatts of electricity, enough to kill a person. Attempting to do so, Travis had fainted of fatigue. The scientists couldn't rouse him in time, and consequently, he fell into a 9-month coma.

"Now, it's getting late. Conserve your energy for the morning. The client will be here." The doctor bid farewell to his patient.

Travis lie in bed, staring at the ceiling. Unable to sleep after doing so for 9 months, he pondered in thought. He wondered about how his life was before he was captured. And what about friends? Travis had no recollection of such people. Meryl? Who knows how their relationship was like.

Travis got lost in though and dozed off into sweet dreams.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

"Hey buddy, wake up!"

Someone awoke Travis. It wasn't the doctor. The voice was too young and he certainly didn't have red hair.

"Come on, wake up!"

Travis opened his eyes. It was another kid. Red messy hair with a scar over his left eye. By the looks of it, he had a bionic arm.

"Are you up?"

Travis nodded his head.

"Listen to me. I've been watching over you for these past nine months. The 'client' that the doctors are talking about? They're nothing more that greedy wannabes who want to exploit others. All they want to do is paint the world in their own image."

"How do you know? You look like a paranoid old guy before the apocalypse." Travis scoffed.

"That's not important. Just look at these." The kid pulled out some pictures from the file.

On the right picture was Travis and Meryl, possibly sharing a romantic moment.

On the left picture was Travis and Meryl again, this time accompanied by more people. From left to right. Someone who had a strikingly similar appearance to the kid, Meryl, Travis, and a blonde kid with neatly combed hair. The end of the picture was covered. Revealing the person on the end, it was someone that Travis knew he had seen somewhere before, but at the same time couldn't remember. His black hair was a neat kind of messy and he held a baseball bat.

Travis flipped the pictures over and saw writing on the back.

_We've always got your back, Travis._

_-Zion, Meryl, Floyd  
_

"You're in this picture too." Travis noticed. The kid observed it with his own eyes and confirmed his pronouncement.

"My name's Claus." The kid introduced. "I'm like you, in the sense of more than 10%."

"So, you…"

"…know PSI? Yes. My twin does too. I sacrificed myself so that he wouldn't go through what I've been through."

"You're the older twin?"

"I've already been through hell and back. If it means that my little Lucas can live freely, so be it."

"Lucas? Your twin."

Claus nodded his head.

Their mutual feeling of safety was interrupted by footsteps and conversations outside their door. Claus hastily scurried to his side of the room, hopping back onto his hospital bed.

The doctor entered the room. Some foreign people accompanied him. Looks to be of Korean descent.

"This is our client. Prime Minister Haneul Mun. He's taken an interest in PSI-wielders and would like to further his research." The doctor announced.

The Prime Minister edged closer to Travis. He observed Travis thoroughly, performing routine checks to make sure everything was in working order.

"I am the Prime Minister of Dalaam." Mun reminded.

"Korea. North Korea." Travis interrupted.

"Shut your mouth, peasant." The Prime Minister calmed himself down and unwrinkled his suit. "PSI-wielders make the best fighters. Nobody in the world can get their hands on these. You must lend us your aid."

"And why should I do that?"

"Dark days are coming. We've gone to war with Pleiades. The Confederate States to be exact. We must assure our dominance as the only PSI-wielding army by helping the Union defeat the confederates."

"Confederates?"

The Prime Minister slicked back his hair. "While you were in a coma, Pleiades went into civil war over the rights of Psionics. They've split into east and west. West being the Union States of Pleiades, still governed by the president, Hamilton. The east is now the Confederate States of Pleiades, now governed by a king: Aloysius Minch."

_Where have I heard that name before?_

"Of course, our intervention is to smooth relationships between us and Uncle Sam, but it's also because we want to be a superpower. We want to use Psionics to do our bidding, to fight wars for those who aren't as fortunate. And we want to do research, what does it take to unlock the brain. To increase usage, so that everyone has an opportunity to unlock their true potential. To fight for glory of their country and beliefs."

"And that's why you need my help?"

"We'll send over a transport squad at dusk. Nobody has to know you're leaving."

Mun showed himself out of the room, doctor following him. Claus took this opportunity to jump out of bed.

"You hear that?" he exclaimed.

"They're gonna milk us dry of our power points." Travis concluded.

"Yep. And I heard something else. Aloysius Minch. I have history with his son."

"Must be bad."

"It is. Before they come tonight, we need to sneak out of here."

"How though?"

"I'll figure it out."

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

Travis didn't move at all since this morning. He lies in bed as Claus was carefully observing something out of the window. Occasionally the brown-haired boy rang an imaginary bell and ask for the stupidest of things, like a foot rub or an imaginary cup of water. Claus put up with it the first couple of times. Then there was a time where Claus just began to ignore his constant complaining and unnecessary requests, comparing the situation to master and slave.

When Claus wasn't putting up with his acquaintance, he was busy drawing maps and scribbling incomprehensible words on the back of a blank medical report. Travis took this time to ponder on his life. Sure, it was a report, but there was the small possibility that they're bending the stories, or that he isn't being told every part. It's like a good movie that cuts to commercial break when it gets to the climax and then comes back in 5 minutes afterwards.

_It's a strategist's job to think of every possibility._

Travis could've sworn he heard that voice before. It sounded so real, but at the same time, he knew that he's imagining things. When posed with the question, Claus answered that he heard nothing but the boy's breathing and his own scribbling. Travis must be imagining things.

He looked back at the pictures, studying the faces that were plastered onto it. The one where he and some girl, presumably Meryl, were sharing a romantic scene. But it was anything but the lover's paradise. Upon closer inspection, Travis noticed that they weren't dressed in a suit and dress. He was wearing jeans and a flannel while Meryl wore a skirt and a sleeveless shirt. It looks like a picnic, but it was far from fancy. Sure, there was rotini, a dish that Travis fancied, but there was also leftover pizza and some potato chips.

Maybe their relationship wasn't like Romeo and Juliet. They're just two oddballs who were feeling some sort of chemical reaction when in the moment.

Travis looked at the other picture. He was in the center, implying that maybe he's the one who leads the group. His right hand was on Meryl's shoulder, and he was cheering. To his left was the blonde kid. He looked like some blue-collar kid just by the way he dressed. On the far right was the black-haired kid. He wore a jacket with a button-up shirt. A black stash across his body indicated that he was wearing some sort of messenger bag. In his hands was a red and black baseball bat. On the far left was Claus, bearing his mechanical limbs.

"Are these our friends?" Travis asked Claus.

Claus dropped the pencil and moved to Travis. He looked at the picture and nodded.

"I thought you could've figured that out by the way we aren't killing each other. Wait hang on a minute."

Claus seized the pictures from Travis's hands. He carefully observed the party picture, then turned it around and studied the writing on the back.

"Something wrong?" Travis asked.

"Oh, it's uh..., nothing. I thought that, well, I couldn't recognize them at first glance.

**[]**

**[section Break]**

**[]**

Dusk came. Claus had everything mapped out, think of every possibility, and composing backup plans. He already created some infiltration tools to aid in their exfiltration, such as lock picks and red phosphorous bombs. Surprising that doctors keep red phosphorous inside of their patient's rooms, since they serve no purpose in any of the medical cases, at least according to Claus.

Pretty soon, Dalaamese soldiers would be storming the place. They'll secure Travis and probably transport them to North Korea to do their evil bidding. Worst case scenario, they'll create a nuclear PSI bomb using the so-called "Power Points" and launch it at the Confederate States of Pleiades. But then again, all the nuke launches they've done have never took off or landed in the ocean.

With the idea of being free men (or kids in this case), they mapped out their exfiltration route and scheduled their movements. They'll have to move quickly, or else get caught and get sent to maximum security. All and all, Travis didn't have much of a choice. For all he knew, Claus could be lying to him and leading him right to the Dalaamese. But still, Claus seemed like a trustworthy individual. If they're really friends, as he says, then Travis has nothing to worry about.

As they made their way out, Claus forgot to take one more thing into account.

Before they made their move, a third party raided their hospital.


	2. Hospital Escape

Travis remembered his first ever friends.

It was a little after he learned how to walk and talk. For the most part, he remembered Zack being absent at the time for some reason. His parents invited over some of their college friends and their kids over for some sort of party. Of course the kids were left to themselves while the adults were in another room drinking or something of the sort.

_My parents weren't drinkers._

Whatever they were doing isn't important.

Two other boys and one girl that Travis had a crush on at the time. Their play date involved toys ranging from alphabet blocks to spiked rubber balls. Often times they would play games competing against each other, like who can spell the biggest word or who would win in a race. But all in all, they stuck together for quite some time and enjoyed regular visits to each others' residences.

At one point, the kids all took a picture portrait. Travis could remember it hanging in the living room of his house. In red was a message

_We'll always be there for you, Travis._

_-Edward, Michael, and Ina_

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

Travis came back into the same medium as reality. The first thing he saw was that he and Claus were held to gunpoint.

"Nice going, dunderhead. Now we're both gonna get killed!" Claus complained.

The assailant radioed over to someone, claiming that she (yes she) got the "package". Receiving further orders from what seems to be her commanding officer, she was to escort the two out of the building as the rest of the battalion was to clean up any witnesses.

Just then, another soldier came in.

"New orders from the boss..."

Claus took this opportunity to disarm the female soldier and hold her hostage against the entering soldier. He put his hands up in surrender.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here for Travis." Removing his helmet revealed a kid no older than Travis. He had brown hair, neatly trimmed and slicked backward.

"Suuuuuurrreeee." Claus doubted.

"I'm serious. I'm here to bring Travis to safety. The name's Edward."

"Edward? I think I had a friend named Edward before." Travis comprehended as he pointed to the pictures on the ground. "It was written on the pictures...? Maybe..."

Rumbling and gunshots.

"No time to check. We have to go."

Claus rendered their assailant unconscious as he accompanied Edward and Travis throughout the chaotic hospital.

Evading security, they sneaked their way to the elevator. Upon closer inspection, the elevator was out of order, so they'll have to manually take the stairs. Feinting a near miss with assaulting guards, they evaded search lights from helicopters. Progressing down the hallways and using the patient rooms for cover, they eventually made it to the stairwell unscathed. They trekked slowly down each story, keeping an eye out for any incoming soldiers.

Well they almost got caught once. Luckily for them, Edward managed to knock him out before he could radio in to the others. Taking his ammunition, they continued downwards until they've made it into the lobby.

In a sense of perfect timing, the Dalaamese Army decided to show up directly at this time.

At the lobby was a brief crossfire between the two factions, with the Dalaamese coming out on top. Knowing that they'll be shot on sight, regardless of orders due to reflex, Edward decided to run interference.

Unscrewing the silencer off of his gun, he chucked it to the far side of the room and fired off a few shots before diving to the lower level.

As the Dalaamese soldiers moved to investigate the noise, Travis and Claus circled around the east side of the room. After the finished investigation, the Dalaamese caught the two boys. As they began the process of apprehension, an ambulance crashed through the front of the building. From the driver's seat, Edward opened fire, covering the two boys as they entered the safety of the emergency vehicle. Edward backed out of the building and drove out the main road.

They breached a couple of Dalaamese roadblocks and almost got killed in a crossfire. All seemed well until a helicopter began pursuit of their vehicle. From the side door sat a soldier with a RPG launcher. Firing the projectile, it exploded upon contact, rendering Edward unconscious. Travis desperately tried to keep the ambulance on the road, but one simple barricade threw them off course. The vehicle tossed an turned multiple times before rendering a complete halt upside down.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

"Awww...look at our little man! All ready to go to school."

Travis looked down on himself. He was wearing some casual clothes and had a green backpack.

"Now, Zack." His father was saying. "I need you to look out for Travis, okay? I don't think that ... can do it."

"Leave it to me dad!" His elder brother announced with enthusiasm.

Travis noticed his parents and Zack were there. But he saw one more person. Long black hair, resembled his father a little bit. He looked slightly older than him, but younger than Zack.

Turning his head to face Travis, the third boy winked and smiled at Travis.

Then darkness.

_Who was that...?_

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

"Come on, Travis we have to go." Edward was saying.

Travis was sitting upright, leaning against the side of the ambulance.

"But what about Claus...?"

"He's as good as dead. No point in taking him along unless we want to get caught."

Travis hated to admit it, but Edward was right. Claus would only slow them down. His moral was to never leave friends behind, but this time, his life was on the line and they needed to get as far away from the Dalaamese and the third party as possible.

"Let's go."

They both got up and began to walk the lonely street. In all honesty, Travis didn't remember much about Edward. Well he didn't remember much period. He only wished that his memories caught up to him so that he can conclude if his savior was a threat or not.

_Maybe he's part of the missing piece._

"Hey Ed. That's what your name was right?"

"Yes, child?"

"Um, you know how I've lost my memory? Did I tell you that?"

"Well the doctors said that you've been suffering from some sort of amnesia."

"I've recently been having flashbacks of my life stories. Like how I learned to walk and talk."

"I was there too, you know."

Travis could recall. But something wasn't right. He decided to play it dumb.

"You were?"

"Remember all those play dates you used to have?"

"That was you?"

"We've been friends a long time now. Then I moved away and stuff."

Looking ahead, Edward noticed that there were people in the distance. They didn't look particularly like guards, but they couldn't take any chances. He insisted that Travis stayed behind as he went to drive them away.

_Travis!_

Travis heard a voice in his head.

"Who's there?"

_It's me! Your subconscious!_

"Huh? There's no way."

_Well you're right, there's no way. But let's just pretend until I get to see you._

"Who are you then?"

_That's not important, just, uh..., do you trust me?_

"Why would I trust a random stranger that's talking inside of my head?"

_Why do you trust a random stranger who is leading you to places unknown? You look like an idiot talking like that._

Travis covered his mouth. He hadn't realized that he was talking out loud to an imaginary figure. He might as well be called crazy if they weren't sneaking around.

He lowered his voice down to a whisper. "Okay, what?"

_Edward is lying to you._

"Are you sure? Everything that he says lines up with everything I remember."

_Then one of two things. Either you were hypnotized during your stay at the hospital..._

"People can do that?"

_It's not that hard. Like seriously, it's really just a simple procedure._

"And what's the other possibility?"

_Edward has somehow learned every detail of your life managed to line his story up with yours._

"So what do I do?"

_I don't care what you do, to be honest. You can go with a liar or put your trust in a voice in your head. It's really up to you._

Both scenarios seemed really bad. There was the possibility that Edward was lying to him. At the same time, there's no way that the voice in his head knew anything. Hell, he didn't even know whether this person existed or not. It's almost like everyone is trying to drive him insane.

_It's a strategist's job to think of every possibility._

"Wait a minute, who are you?"

_Time for me to go._

_WHOOSH!_

The voice inside of Travis's head had ceased speaking. Edward came back, appearing to be successful in his diversion.

"I think the coast is clear. Let's get going." he ordered.

The lonely road eventually became a suburb city. Edward led Travis to a one story building. Knocking on the door a specific way revealed a elevator. They took it down into some sort of underground society, where it's inhabitants were bustling with silence. It almost looked like one of the those sewer homeless centers.

"Welcome to Mementos. Everyone is waiting for you."

The elevator finally reached the ground floor. Travis and Edward exited the elevator, where they were greeted by two other kids and an adolescent.

"Travis Windrop." The adolescent said. "It's nice to see you again little bro."

"How do you know who I am?"

"Everyone here knows who you are. You don't even remember me? I'm Zack. Zack Windrop."

"How?"

"Well, Travis. You remember your friends from middle school? Yeah well, we teamed up together and we're going to help keep you safe."

"Zack...you don't have to do this."

"Really? Remember what dad said? Maybe your baby brain couldn't remember, but I made a promise to Dad. That I would look after you no matter what."

"Oh."

Zack embraced his younger brother. "You're safe with me, little bro."

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

"Claus? I heard you were hanging out in there. Mind if I joined you?"

"Fuck you."

Claus recently regained consciousness in the upside down ambulance. He was helped out of his predicament and was given cold water to solve dehydration.

His saviors were the same people that Travis saw on the picture. Meryl, as well as a blonde haired and black haired boys.

"Hi, I'm Floyd." The blonde introduced. "That right there is Zion." He pointed to the black haired kid.

"Where'd Travis go? I thought you're supposed to be the one saving his life." Zion asked.

"Where were you when the situation went haywire?" Claus remarked.

"Stuck in traffic."

"Sure, sure."

Floyd stepped up. "It's true. Korea does whatever the hell they want when striving for nuclear domination. Even if that means that they took over a city to secure one little boy."

Claus attempted to stretch in order to loosen up.

"Do you know where Travis went?" Claus asked.

"I do actually." Zion said. "He's gone with someone named Edward to some top secret underground lizard base. I can probably lead you to it.

"Well, I'd like to get back to the states."

"I've already made plans. We'll be back for Travis. Right now, we need to get out of the hot zone." Zion looked back up at the hospital. "Uh, scratch that. It's pretty cool here."

"Cooler than you." Meryl taunted.

"Whatever. Let's go then."

Looking back at the diminished hospital one more time, they began trekking to wherever their destination was. Travis was safe, at least they assumed so. It was time they headed back to what's left of their home country.


	3. Mementos

"So this is your top secret underground bunker base, huh?" Travis awed. " It's really big. Looks like some sort of post apocalyptic shelter."

"Yep. Here in Mementos, we protect the weak. Especially people like you." Zack explained. "We got eyes all 'round the world. We got soldiers willing to die protecting you people. There's nothing to worry about."

For once, Travis felt safe. Something about the atmosphere of Mementos eased all of the troubles he had. Still, he had a lot of questions. He recognized Zack from his childhood memories. But if anyone else was to claim him as a friend, Travis had to remember fast or live the rest of his life in doubt.

"Here, let me show you where you'll be staying."

Travis was led through the vast civilization of Mementos. At first sight, many people would mistake this place for a homeless society. But it's way more than that. Soldiers were posted everywhere, whether to keep order or to give you that feeling where you're constantly watched. Looks like the inhabitants are from all sorts of social ranks. From the homeless, to even the richest of people, man, woman, and child alike. While it's depressing that they were forced to give up everything just because they're different. People strive to use their power, for good and evil all the same. Others want to exploit their power and get it for themselves, making them more powerful than their competitors. With this kind of power at their disposal, there would be no need for the technological advancement of weapons and tactics. Fire attacks can be executed without arrows or petrol. Areas can be flooded with water, even if there was none nearby. Lightning can be used to smite people. All sorts of things could've stayed ancient had they exploited this earlier.

Travis was led to what looked like some sort of apartment complex. A two story facility embedded in the walls of the civilization. He was assigned apartment 614, containing 2 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms.

The apartment itself was somewhat spacious, already furnished. Zack bid his sibling farewell for the time being as Travis lie down to relax on the couch. It was a good thing Claus was around back at the hospital, or he would be slaving away at the Koreans.

That reminds him...

_What happened to Claus?_

There was no use thinking about it, since they abandoned the redhead back at the ambulance. But the question still lingered in his mind whether he was alive or not. If he wasn't, he would give his condolences at the boy's service, or apologize at his grave, whichever came first. If he was, Claus may have changed his standpoint on Travis, seeing him as a selfish individual who only thinks and acts to his own self-benefit. Claus could be a potential enemy down the road. The next time they met, Travis would be sure to apologize the first chance he gets.

If they ever meet again.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

This was an unfamiliar memory.

Travis envisioned his surroundings. It looked hazy, but he made out some sort of courtyard inside of a building campus. He was surrounded by three people, one of them being Edward. He assumed the other two was David and Ina from the pictures.

They all faced a black haired kid. He was short, just like his hair length. He donned a red jacket with a messenger bag.

"So you think that standing with you friends is going to save you from revenge?"

Travis assumed that the boy meant the people surrounding him.

"What about our friendship? Does that mean something to you?"

Travis didn't know who his foe was, but he had this feeling that they've known each other for a long time.

"What's it going to be, Travis? Loyalty to me? Or loyalty to your country?"

The surrounding area grew darker as an eerie red haze began swelling up.

"To your friends? Or to the backstabbers?"

The room flashed for a brief second, followed by the sound of a boulder tumbling down rough terrain. Or maybe it was thunder?

"Do you seek the truth? Or are you comfortable with the lies that your so called 'friends' have made up for you. Are you so oblivious to who you really are? What you were meant to do? Why you exist in this world?"

Travis's vision began flicker in and out. His legs grew weak as he struggled to keep his balance on the ground. When it may seem that he would wake up, he felt an agonizing pain on his back, comparable to a stab with a sharp knife. Letting out a distressful cry, he collapsed onto the ground. He tried his best not to cry from pain, but it was inevitable. As for his friends that once surrounded him, they all took one long look at Travis before abandoning him, leaving the boy for dead.

"Open your eyes to the truth."

The black haired boy took Travis's hand. The pain subsided, slowly and not all at once.

"Stay with them and live a short, yet merry life. Or come with me, where you can prosper with those who want the best for you. Those who would do anything in their power to ensure your happiness and safety."

_Those who really care..._

Travis couldn't make out the boy's face, as his vision faded away into darkness. Should he trust a distant memory? Or should he stay inside the safety of Mementos.

Travis wasn't sure what to do anymore.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

Travis awoke to a knock on the door.

He didn't know the condition outside of Mementos, but his clock stated that it was morning time.

Travis unwrinkled his clothes and attempted to make himself look somewhat presentable in the bathroom mirror. His hair was a mess, but there was almost no difference between now and when he actually attempted to take care of it. He turned on the sink and ran some water through it before brushing it. Satisfied with his sloppy appearance, he made his way out of the bedroom and answered the front door.

Zack was at the door, dressed in sweatpants and a track jacket. It was a huge step backwards for what Travis had expected, but he remembered that athletes don't need to dress flashy. No they needed to dress comfortably, both in game and off the field. It was an unspoken rule among all athletes. Since he was one himself, he shouldn't have expected more from his older sibling.

The was an awkward silence, but eventually Travis found the courage to speak.

"So, uh, you came here to tell me something?"

"No. Nothing like that. Just wanted to know if you wanted to hang with me? Maybe?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll just go change."

"No, you'll be fine. Come."

Zack took his younger sibling on a tour around Mementos. First they went to the marketplace. Usually it's very busy with inhabitants scurrying about. But today, business just so happened to be slower than usual. Merchandise being sold ranged from various crops to local household appliances. Further in the back was the Black Market, dealing with goods that would be illegal in an ordeal country, such as weapons and armors. While the idea of vicious murder and all out genocide might be tempting with the easy accessibility of these goods, Mementos has a strict governing system. There's also the constant idea where they could've been left behind in conflict zones, captured by malicious villains hoping to exploit their extraordinary abilities for their own benefit.

Next stop was the shipping yard and production house. Zack explained that Mementos was the hub for shady goods. Products such as illegal drugs and modified weapons were created there and shipped off to those willing to pay for them. They've received contract from various private military companies all around the globe. As long as they get payment in return, the causes of all these clients didn't matter much to the leaders of Mementos.

The last sight to behold was the jail. The main purpose was to house prisoners of war, but sometimes residents end up in there. In conjunction with illegal black market trade, sometimes Mementos engage in hostage negotiation. In exchange for Psionics and those of similar caliber, Mementos is willing to trade away its prisoners of war. It's all one big cycle in order to fulfill the objective.

"Now it's time for you to meet our leader." Zack led Travis to a large building. It wasn't spectacularly decorated. However the fact that it lurks over the other buildings establishes its dominance over everything else.

They traveled into the main hall then up a flight of stairs to reach the actual reception area. Then they took an elevator up to the top floor. Passing through another hallway, they finally reached their destination.

The room itself wasn't that big. Sure, bookshelves lined the walls and there were paintings hanging in various places, but that made the room smaller than it initially was.

A man dressed in some sort of fancy military uniform sat at the desk, lecturing two boys. Travis almost mistook them for identical twins, but noted that there are differences. First off, they dressed differently. One had yellow and blue stripes on his shirt while the other had red, white, and blue like the Pleiadean flag. The latter also had a red handkerchief tied around his neck.

"...and don't let me catch you again. If there's a second time, there won't be a third. Are we clear?"

The boys nodded their heads.

"Now. Dismissed."

Travis watched as the boys marched out, tail between their legs. Zack led Travis to stand in front of the desk.

"Zack? Who's this boy?"

"Oh, this is my little brother. Travis this is Commander Adenauer of Germany. He's resigned from the national army to establish a haven here."

"If there's one thing that we all have in common." The commander started. "Is that I want the safety for all the special people. This is a haven for people like you Travis."

Travis nodded in acknowledgement as another kid barged in. "Hey old man!"

"What do you want, Tiberius?"

"When are we going to go kill things?!"

"Hey!" The commander snapped. "Killing is wrong."

Tiberius eyed his father very carefully before he turned his attention to Travis. "You did it, didn't you?"

"Did what?"

"Don't play dumb. My father was a stickler for punishment and torture. You turned him soft, didn't you."

"Uh, what? I just got here."

"Mark my fucking words. When I get in power, you'll be sorry."

Tiberius triumphantly marched out of the room.

"My apologies. That's my son, Tiberius. It seems all he likes to do is kill and kill. Sometimes I wonder if he has sentiment for human life." The commander leaned closer. "I swear, that child will be the death of me."

Zack intervened before the situation became more awkward. "Well, sir. We really were just stopping by. I think I'll take my brother home now."

Travis was led back home. Zack would call for him first thing tomorrow to begin work. Thanks to a few favors in executive government, Travis was secured a role working alongside, or rather under, his older sibling. Despite their overflowing familial love for each other, Zack still overshadows Travis.

The latter was okay with this.

Travis never saw himself being anything other than average. Even after he readily accepted his PSI powers, his intent was to stay inside of his brother's comfortable shadow. He saw himself as inferior to others, especially after the damage he's done to drive the Modern Minds out of Pleiades. Despite his pessimistic outlook on his life, he managed to keep a cheerful, yet heavily sarcastic mood. He's gotten the attention and respect from people of all social groups, ranging from the outcasts to the ever dominant jocks. Many have claimed that his bright nature helped cure depression for most people. However, Travis denies this, because he would've cured his own at this point.

The boy finally noticed a package lying on the coffee table in the living room. He opened it up and slipped out a picture frame. It was made out of black plastic alongside a smooth laminate film. No picture was present, but Travis did feel something inside of the frame. He removed the back and extracted a certificate that read:

_Travis Windrop_

**_All Star Batter  
_ **

_This title is awarded to the player with the highest home run ratio  
_

_Ratio: 100%_

Travis expected to envision some sort of baseball stadium filled with people. Instead, he envisioned people. He managed to make himself out in the hallucination. He was accompanied by a boy with short, black hair; the same one he saw in a dream last night. They both faced what seemed like Travis's parents.

"This is the exact reason why he ran away from home!" The black haired boy scolded. "Because you...!"

"What did we do?" His mother was saying.

"You want another Zack. That's what. Travis is his own person. Don't try and make him someone he isn't"

As the hallucinations faded, Travis couldn't recall if he ever attempted to run away from home at one point. And despite all that was said that night and the change of heart his family had, Travis didn't raise any expectations of himself. He still didn't want to aspire to being anything but average. At the same time, he had to do his best in the situation. Not only for his sake, but for those around him.

_Did I really run away from home? Why would I do that? I should ask Zack later about it._


	4. Dystopia

The future that everyone dreamed of never became a reality. Instead, The United States of Pleiades was thrown into a Civil War between East and West.

It all boiled down to one simple Congress meeting regarding the rights and responsibilities of Psionics. One side of the house declared that they should be entitled to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, as stated in the US Constitution. The other side struck down the beliefs of their founding fathers, instead the fate of the Psionics rests in the hands of the people. Although the topic was never mentioned, the faction that went to become the Confederate States were arguing for slavery to advance their own benefits. Psionics were anything but human, and should be treated as property.

The topic sparked serious debate inside the legislative branch, which expanded into the executive and judicial branch and eventually reaching the entire public. It was at this point where the common folk began to take sides in the matter. As time progressed on, Pleiadeans began to split further and further apart. One nation became two. Constant warfare lingered at the borders of the divided nation, endangering the lives of everyone.

But in the end, everyone was willing to die for their ideals, even if their ideals are outlandish or doesn't match with our own.

At least they all had a cause to die for.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

It was storming outside.

The room was dark apart from the light emitting from the computer screen. In front of it sat a blonde haired boy with fair skin. He was frantically typing away at seemed like a fanfiction of his favorite series, despite the impending dangers that the divided nation proposed. Nothing would distract him from his work, apart from the constant though lingering in his mind about someone close to him. Someone he lost long ago.

At this rate, he was running out of ideas for his story. Instead he went on ahead to a social media site and sifted through the memes and political posts all listed there. Occasionally he would comment on a few posts, but he would refrain from actually composing a post himself. The last few posts haven't received any attention at all. He would be okay if they got a few likes and one or two comments, but he felt like he was being completely ignored.

After about 5 minutes of scrolling, there was a knock on the door. In entered his mother with brown hair, wearing a dress.

"Lucas? If you're going to do this, at least turn on the light. You'll hurt your eyes if you stare at that screen in the dark."

Lucas acknowledged his mother with a nod and turned back to the computer screen.

"Oh and dinner's ready. Your dad is waiting downstairs for us, so we shouldn't keep him waiting. And uh...put on some clothes before you come down."

Lucas looked down on himself. He was wearing nothing but a pair of white briefs. He slowly slipped on the gym shorts and t-shirt that lie sloppily near the leg of his chair and shambled downstairs. Awaiting his arrival, his mom and dad haven't touched the omelettes that lie on their plates. He took a seat opposite of his father.

"Lucas, are you there?" his father asked.

The blonde was picking at his omelette with his fork, but never found the motivation to actually take a bite out of it. He just wanted to do this long enough so that he could be sent back to his eternal solitude.

"Lucas, I know it's hard dealing with the past. But moping in your room isn't going to solve anything." his mom scolded softly. "Why don't you ever go outside or something? Play with your friends or, just frolic in those sunflower fields that you always go to?"

"It's late, it's raining, everyone hates me. Besides, isn't there a war you should be fighting?"

Lucas's parents exchanged worried looks at one another. An awkward silence filled the air, but it was his mom who found the courage to speak.

"The front lines are being pushed back day by day. Eventually, it'll reach us here in Tazmily. I just want you to cherish the moments you have here. There's always the chance where it could all just disappear."

"Yeah I know." Lucas sighed. "It's not like I'll be remembered as a hero or anything."

"Well you ain't going to be a hero sitting in your room all day." his father brandished.

"Whatever dad. I'm going back to my room." Lucas rose from the chair and marched upstairs to his room. Shutting the door quietly behind him, he went back into the office chair. Once again, he shifted through more and more posts until one caught his eye. It read:

* * *

**Azazel the Confederate** **:**

_Lmao, the Union doesn't know what's coming to them. The president is going to strike the capital of Tazmily soon. On the news it said that we got a trade deal from an arms dealer called Mementos. Lol, lame name, but Pleiades will soon be under confederate control. Psionics can succ it.  
_

* * *

As Lucas's mother said, the Confederate Forces were going to attack Tazmily soon. Lucas investigated the post further. It had about 100 likes and 27 dislikes. 4 comments and counting.

* * *

**Marx-manship:**

_Yeah, show those Union fags what the Confederacy is made of  
_

**Kathy the Kawaii Kat (Marth's wife and Girlfriend):**

_this will teach them to not steal my boyfriend_

**KPOP #1 fangirl:  
**

ℓмασ мυя∂єя тнσѕє вιт¢нєѕ

**High Quality Fuel:**

message deleted

* * *

 _Looks like Fuel commented on this post earlier,_ Lucas thought. _I wonder what he said. He could've pissed them off with his comment._

Lucas decided not to interfere with the Confederate post. Having decided that he had enough for one day, he turned off his computer, took his clothes off, plummeted face first into his bed. For a few minutes he debated whether or not he should go see Fuel about the post. Part of him wanted to know, but the other part told him that it's not worth it.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

"Huh, it was a lot less edgy than I remembered." Zion said.

"That's hot coming from you." Floyd replied.

"Shut up, Floyd."

Meryl and Claus was the last to exit their airline transport. Having flown across the world to end up in Pennyburg was a tiring trip. Not to mention they took the long way around (from the Middle East through Asia, then across the Pacific) to avoid being shot down by Confederate weapons.

Investigating his surroundings, Claus noticed that it was a lot more moody than he remembered it. A lot of common folk were walking about, which was unusual due to the amount of cars that were here. Then again, the area of Pennyburg was mostly farmland and plantations. It's very absurd how the town can survive on an agricultural-based economy. Not to mention, they were able to set up a working airport and other modern day necessities.

Tazmily wasn't too far away. Their first goal was to head there for whatever reason, mainly because Claus wanted to spook his younger twin.

Exiting the land designated for the airport, the four roamed the streets looking for a taxi and picking up any necessities along the way.

When they decided that enough pointless leisure was pointless, they began looking for means of transportation to Tazmily. Consequently, Floyd ran into a patrolling Union officer and his battalion while reading travel logs he picked up.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir. I wasn't paying attention." the blonde apologized.

The officer looked at one of his inferiors and pointed to Floyd. "Is he your boy?"

"No, sir. My boy has black hair." The soldier responded.

"Sorry, am I missing something here?" Floyd asked.

"It's nothing important. If you excuse us."

"No, I really want to know." he persisted.

"It's really unnecessary for a kid like you to know about."

"What do you want me to do? How should I prove that I want to know?"

Seeing that Floyd is the stubborn bastard he was, the officer gave up trying to drive him away. The soldier had lost his son in battle while they were carrying out an escort mission from a lost settlement. Rumor had it that the kid was kidnapped by the Confederate Army, but somehow escaped into regions unknown. The soldier had reenlisted as a full time soldier in order to find his son.

"My name is Marshall. And this is my son Nessley- er...Ness. He likes to be called Ness." Marshall showed the group a picture of his son. Poofy black hair curling at the ends, giving it the illusion of no straight strands nor pointy ends. Fair skin and wearing his favorite baseball cap.

"If we find him before you do, I'll let you know." Floyd promised.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

"Lucas, would you please tell us what's wrong?" His mother asked.

Lucas has been up and about for about 15 minutes, but then decided that life was a futile effort and spent a while lying on the couch.

"Forget it, Hinawa. It's no good. He won't talk."

"Flint. This is the only son we have left. We have to do something."

Husband and wife exchanged concerned looks before taking one last look at Lucas.

"Lucas, we're going out. Please don't wreck the house."

"No promises." Lucas mumbled softly.

As Hinawa and Flint opened the door, Fuel waited on the other side, standing up straight with his hands behind his back like the good boy he is.

"Fuel? What are you doing here?" Hinawa asked.

"Lucas invited me over. If you don't mind..."

Both parents nodded as Fuel entered and they left.

Fuel found Lucas on the couch. He lifted the latter's legs up and sat down, resting them on his lap.

"Hey, Lukey. Something wrong?"

Lucas mumbled something incomprehensible.

"What was that?"

"It's Claus..."

"Moping about your bro isn't gonna do anything about the situation, 'kay?"

"That's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Then...?"

"I saw you commented on a political post yesterday." Lucas pulled up the post on his phone and showed it to Fuel. "I was curious about what you wrote."

"I wrote something about, uh...oh yeah! I dissed the Confederates and everyone got mad at me. I said something like ' _The Confederates are a bunch of crybabies. They need kids on this page to brag about how "good" they were doing_ '. Yeah, good as a concrete balloon."

Lucas smiled, but only a little bit before going back into his depression.

"I know it's hard believe me. Like, I didn't know my mom. Dad told me that she wasn't on the White Ship that brought all of us to Tazmily." Fuel sighed. "At least you have a mom. But I'll never know what you're going through 'cause I never had a sibling."

"Claus is gone."

"And you'll have to accept that."

"But he's my brother. I can't forget him."

"I didn't said you had to."

"I wish he would just knock on the door and hug me with that bear hug he always did."

There was no knock, but the door flew open crashing into the wall adjacent to it. Following it was a familiar voice yelling "I'M HOME!"

"Claus...?"

Twins met eyes for a second before the older embraced the younger in a bear hug. "I missed you so much, doofus!"

"I missed you too..."

"And I don't plan on leaving anytime soon!" The ginger beamed.

Entering the room next was Meryl, Floyd, and Zion. Alongside Fuel, they said nothing as the twins had their reunion moment. However an event that was supposed to last five minutes lead on to thirty minutes and eventually an hour-long embrace. During this time, the wheels of three to six took an opportunity to play a game of cards, with Fuel ending up the victor by a fluke.

"Beginner's luck." Floyd scoffed.

Lucas and Claus ended their embrace. They requested for everyone else to leave them be for the rest of the day and they all conceded, although hesitantly. Their parents came home later in the day. Claus hid in a box inside the living room as Lucas retook the position of a depressed lemon.

"Lucas? Are you still alive?" Hinawa called.

Lucas raised his hand from the couch. He then pointed to the box. "Something came for you."

Both parents investigated the box. It was rather large. No postal marking were visible. At least if a package came from the Union, it would say something along the the lines of "Uncle Sam" or whatever the Union government went by.

"Is a joke? Lucas?"

Claus popped out of the box, scaring both of his parents. It took a moment for them to snap out of their ambushed state to realize that it was actually Claus and not some elaborate prank that Fuel set up.

"It's really you..." Hinawa was in tears.

"Yep, I'm back and alive as ever!"

They all embraced before being sentenced to a buffet of dinner, complete with all sorts of egg variation dishes. They ate and ate until their stomachs couldn't take anymore. They took to the living room and caught up on old times. Claus took this opportunity to get up to speed with the current events with the civil war. But after a while, parents decided that it was exhausting staying up to late and ordered the twins to bed.

Lucas began stripping down his clothes as Claus looked through his old belongings. He noticed his almost naked brother before he plummeted face first into the bed.

"What, no pajamas?" The older twin asked.

Lucas looked down on himself. "Oh, um...sorry. It's habit." Lucas quickly went back to the closet, but was stopped.

"No, no. I didn't say put something on, did I? I just asked why."

Lucas sat on the bed. "Well, um, I just kinda let loose. You know...after you were gone. It's not like anyone cared. Plus I'm getting older. I need to wear something else."

"Well tell you what. I'll join you." Claus took off his shirt and pants, leaving nothing but his visible bionics and his red plaid boxers. "Like what you see?"

"Eww, Claus no."

"I'm kidding." The ginger reassured. He plopped on Lucas's bed and invited him on.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing wrong. Come on."

Lucas hesitantly cooperated. He lay on the opposite side of Claus. He was half expecting an explicit scene, but instead Claus pulled him in and rubbed the back of his twin's head. The older twin wrapped his leg around that of his sibling.

"Am I suffocating you?" Claus asked.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I'm not letting go."

"This is a meaningless gesture." Lucas said darkly. "If you love something, you'll have to eventually let it go."

"So what? I'm not gonna leave you alone ever again."

"Not if I leave you."

Claus separated from Lucas. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that there's no hope for the future." Lucas answered. "Remember the Needles? How I had to let go of you, let you go to that greater place, to pull the Seventh Needle."

"But I'm here now..."

"And eventually, there's going to be a day where you won't see me again."

"Lucas stop it."

"You never know what's going to happen. In the next day, or even in the next minute. Don't make promises you can't keep."

Claus got out of bed and stood up. He was obviously hurt by these situations but to hear them coming out of Lucas's mouth. Unspeakable.

"I don't know how to react to this."

Lucas realized his negative mood and apologized profusely to his sibling. "It's just that..."

"Don't worry about it. I hate to say this, but focus on the moment right now. Let the future happen. We're together right now. That's all that matters."

Claus sat back down and allowed Lucas to bury his face into his shoulder. The older twin felt the wetness from his sibling's tears. He didn't mind the slightest though.

"I love you, Claus. Please don't leave again." Lucas begged softly.

"I'll try my best. For your sake."


	5. Frequency

His vision was hazy.

He didn't know where he was, or why he was there.

All he could see was human flesh.

Until he lifted his head up.

Travis was in a classroom. Kids were all around him, conversing about various topics. On the whiteboards were instructions. Something about a group project. It read:

**1) Select a partner or a group**

**2) Draft ideas for a poster/brochure for Red Ribbon Week**

**3) Submit proposal to teacher**

**4) Begin working. This project is due on ~~~~**

The date was smudged, rendering it unreadable.

Something that caught his eye was in the top right corner of the board.

_Mrs. Quinlivian  
4th Grade_

Travis was probably nine at the time. He remembered not being really popular with the other kids. But sometimes they would get all over him when he had brought a battery-operated radio to school.

_A radio?_ he thought.

A radio appeared on his desk. Plastered all over it were baseball stickers he would always get from places like the dentist. Despite being slightly dirty, the radio was still in good shape. Once he turned it on, his surroundings froze and turned into a hazy black and white filter. Someone spoke from the speaker.

"And it looks like another home run for the Belring Strikers! Player 75 Armstrong scoring his 5th home run for the season, bringing the score up 11-6 and taking the lead against the Conquerors."

Travis remembered this podcast. Belring won the state championship and went to play on Nationals.

"With this kind of grit, looks like Belring could take it all the way to Nationals. And even then, they'll come head to head with Onett."

"That'll be a good game! Who knows what to expect from the Striiiiiiiii-"

Static.

Travis smacked the radio a few times to extract the juice from the batteries. Then poof. The radio disappeared in front of his own eyes. Consequently, the room turned to color again and everything resumed.

One kid came up to Travis and stuck his hand out.

"Hey, let's be par...par...par"

The kid began to have a mental breakdown. He fell to the floor and began denigrating into some sort of black ooze. Cries of agony echoed the room, which did not phase any of the other people. When the pain subsided, black ooze began reforming. It took the shape of a boy again, this time with different features. He stuck out his hand.

"Travis. You know I'm always here for you."

"But who? You came out of that...!"

"You don't remember your pal, Edward? C'mon Travis. I won't anybody take you away from me. I won't let anybody lie to you or take advantage of you."

_Unless he lies to you first. Unless he's the one taking advantage of you first._

**[]**

**[FLASH]**

**[]**

"Travis?"

Travis regained consciousness rather slowly. Color blur merged into solid polygons, redefined into three-dimensional figures. His elder brother Zack was standing over him.

"Are you okay? The radio was on, so I decided to shut it off." Zack took a closer look at the radio. "Isn't this the one you got for your birthday?"

Travis seized the radio from Zack. It had baseball stickers plastered all over it. Just like the one in his vision.

"Can't believe you still have it all this time."

Zack helped Travis out of bed and made him some breakfast. During which, Zack informed Travis that they [Mementos] just secured a contract with an organization called Halbach, allied with the Confederate States of Pleiades. They were to supply weaponry and rations to the Confederate Army in exchange for the lives of Psionics. Travis was unanimously chosen along with two other boys in order to join the older vets, such as Zack, to help with supplies.

"Why are we helping the Confederates? I thought our goal was to save the Psionics."

"Well we are. Just not in the way you think. The payment is the Psionics. It's moreso a trade agreement than actually going in guns blazing and possibly getting ourselves killed."

"Why can't we just help the Union?"

"Because we can't save everyone going in guns blazing. And what good is a rescuer if he's dead."

Travis couldn't argue. Instead, he agreed to go along with Zack and whoever else is going on this expedition. It's not like he had much of a choice, but he could take this opportunity to ask Zack about his past.

After finishing breakfast, Travis accompanied Zack to the main supply hub of Mementos. The expedition was lead by Tiberius, the commander's son. Accompanying them was Edward, Michael, and Ina. Zack was in charge of not only Travis but for the other two rookies as well. Zack taught them what to put where and the efficient way of moving things of varying weights. At one point, he did a football charge into a crate so heavy that it almost tipped over. Luckily, some of the workers were there to save it. When everyone was finished loading, the cargo ship set sail out of the Mementos system and into the open Mediterranean Sea.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

The trip to Pleiades was a long and slow one. It's been about 15 days and they were close to the halfway mark of the Mid Atlantic. Luckily, the ship has been well supplied with provisions and had the luxury of air conditioned cabins.

Travis had been assigned the same cabin as the two other rookies way below deck. He had been trying to sleep for the past hour, but the constant crunching of a hard cookie and the ruffling of a bag wasn't the right way to spend a quiet evening. He was considering to take his chances and sleep above deck. At one point, he just lost it and snapped.

"Can you not?! SOME people are trying to sleep!"

The boy looked up. He was mid chewing an Oreo.

"mfg-sowwee." he tried to say.

"And don't speak with your mouth full."

The other boy came up to his defense. "What's it to you? He's just eating."

"I'm trying to sleep."

"Well would it kill you to deal with it? Why don't you come down here and eat with us?"

"No thanks."

"Just come down now."

Travis rolled off his bed and thudded on the ground. He continued rolling until he was perpendicular with the other two boys.

"You know, we're going to be stuck together for a while." Oreo boy said and Travis nodded in agreement. "Might as well get to know each other. I'm Ninten Koperniso. This is my friend slash distant relative Ness Marshall."

"Okay, hold on. Distant relative? Like how distant?" Travis questioned.

"We don't know how far." Ness admitted. "Our parents ran a DNA test and the results turned up 'Hey! You guys are related!' Turns out wherever our genes branched off, I was on the dad side and Ninty was on the mom side."

"I'm Travis. Travis Windrop. At least, I think I am."

"You think? You mean you don't know?"

"Well I don't remember much about myself." Travis stated honestly. "The doctors just gave me a name and some history to go by. I've been trying to figure out what my life was like, because these stories seem...out of place."

"How is that working for you?" Ness asked as politely as he could.

"Well, I've been having these dreams and hallucinations. About like certain events of my life. I don't know who or what, but I found this radio in my dreams." Travis revealing the radio for his companions to observe. "And I think it has something to do with it. Hey I have an idea!"

"Lay it on us." Ninten encouraged.

"I know you two will stay up a little long than I would, so I want you to do something. Turn that radio on and I'll go to bed. Then I want you to write everything I tell you afterwards."

As such, Travis decided to put up with Ninten's constant chewing and went to bed. Ness turned the radio to frequency 100.0FM and out came static.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

Travis found himself at home, sitting on the couch. He could hear his father and Zack in the kitchen talking about football related stuff. The TV was on and tuned to the News Channel. The main story hasn't come on yet. Instead they were talking about scammers disguised as local puppy buyers online.

Something wasn't right. Travis looked around the living room. He saw all of Zack's certificates along the wall, but nothing of his. Surely he had achieved something, if not Perfect Attendance or something even more remotely irrelevant. And the place where he remembered the picture of him and his first ever friends. It was absent. Instead, it was replaced by a drawing. Crudely done in crayon, in the picture was three stick figures. The text read "Friandz 4 evah!"

_That's probably something Zack drew._

"And now for the main story of the evening. A 4th grader by the name of...has been reported missing. Police investigators have arrived at the child's house and have questioned the parents for any evidence relating to the child's disappearance. However, they all came up empty-handed. Police have decided to dismiss the case until more evidence came up. Next tonight, a shootout in Union City. More on that in 5 minutes."

"A shootout in Union City? I knew I've heard that somewhere..."

The phone rang in the kitchen. Travis could hear his father answering it before he informed Travis that it was for him. Pressing the receiving end to his ear, he heard a distinctly familiar voice. Panic filled the atmosphere as the voice frenzied the topic.

"He's gone!"

"Who's gone?" Travis asked.

"Our friend! He's gone! We have to do something about it!"

"Who's gone? Tell me!" he demanded.

Silence.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

Travis awoke the sound of a knock. The cabin door opened and in came Zack to deliver breakfast. He asked about Travis, but Ness claimed he was oversleeping. Satisfied with the answer, Zack promised not to bother them until lunchtime.

Ninten asked Travis what he experienced, and Travis explained the event in full detail in comparison with the dreams he's had so far.

"So that picture of your friends wasn't there this time? It was replaced with a drawing right?" Ninten confirmed. Travis nodded in agreement. "Did you get the time?"

"Nothing exact. I say it was in the evening." Travis answered as Ninten scribbled the information down.

"So what next, Travis?" Ness asked.

"In one of my dreams, I was in a school. And someone came to me and offered help, but he had a breakdown and melted into this black ooze. Then out came Edward. My brother said that I slept with the radio on and turned it off."

"Okay...?"

"Tonight, keep it on the same frequency. After I fall asleep, wait about one minute, then turn it off. I want to see if my theory is correct."

"Whatever you say Travis."

Another day went by without incident. Travis went to bed with the radio on the same frequency. After it was clear that the boy had fallen into a deep sleep, Ness turned the radio off.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

It was clear that Travis was back where he was.

He was on the living room couch again, overhearing the conversation that Zack and their father was having about football. But instead something was different from the last time. There were less of Zack's achievements on the wall and more of Travis's, although the former's sports trophies lined the trophy shelf. And the place where that drawing used to be? The picture that had Travis and his first friends was present.

But instead of the missing child news story, it skipped straight into the shootout of Union City.

"Further news tonight." The anchorman was saying. "Residents were shocked tonight, after being caught in a crossfire between two rival gangs. Police had rushed to the scene, but was too late. The shootout was between two rival gangs, The Zodiac and the Neo-Confeds. According to a police report, at least 30 gang members were killed, the majority affiliated with the Confeds. On top of that, around 50 civilians were caught in the fight and killed, alongside another 10 wounded. Many of which were children attending schools in Belring and Pennyburg. We'll keep you updated as the investigation proceeds further."

_I remember hanging out with a biker at one point._ Travis thought. _I wonder if he has anything to do with it._

Phone rang, dad talking, Travis it's for you.

Travis answered the phone and heard Edward's voice on the other end. "Travis did you hear the news?"

"About the shootout?" Travis asked.

"Yeah, and how like some people in our school were killed. I heard that there was that one kid in our class that was killed."

"Who?"

"He was some Asian kid. Didn't talk much either. But it's not like he was important anyways."

"That was harsh."

"Kill or be killed, Travis."

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

As Travis's suspicions were confirmed, the radio had something to do with altering his memories.

He spent the entire next day trying to piece things together. Eventually, he requested a few stacks of paper, sticky notes, and a lot of red yarn from the office area (yes this cargo ship has an office area). While the others had been watching Travis's actions closely, they weren't one to ask questions and rarely interfered with his activities.

He lined the wall with drawings and small notes, only stopping to take occasional naps throughout the day in order to piece together more information. He later learned that he had met Meryl sometime in the 6th grade according to the radio. Without the radio though, he seemed to reunite with his friends Ina and Michael around the same time. All the way up to this point in time, Travis was able to piece together almost all of his life, although with little plot holes here and there. Certain frequency tunings was unavailable on the radio, due to sticky dials. Unwilling to risk the destruction of the radio, Travis made educated guesses on the plot holes.

When he left for a dinner break when Zack and the others, Ninten came scurrying back to the cabin in order to obtain the bag of Oreos he always had. Seeing that Travis had made a mess of the wall, Ninten decided to try and simplify his companion's findings. Munching on his Oreos in the process, Ninten scribbled away on printer paper as neatly and legibly as he could.

* * *

**Radio ON:**

_-Travis was born on June 15th, 200X_ _  
_

_-Eldest Sibling Zack, Unknown Middle Child (Travis being the youngest)_

_-Attended Woodlawn Elementary, before moving to Lynch Academy_

_-Fell into a deep depression around 4th Grade, unknown reason_

_-Graduated from Elementary Level, enrolled in Blue Ridge Middle_

_-Met Meryl at a school dance_

_-Proceeded through middle school without incident_

_-Able to take 9th Grade Math at 7th Grade level_

_-Depression is somehow cured near the end of 8th Grade_

* * *

Maybe Ninten didn't get everything that was on the wall, but at least he got some of the key points.

* * *

** Radio OFF:   
**

_-Travis was born on July 28th, 200X_

_-Attended Lynch Academy throughout elementary years_

_-Very anti-social, only has Edward, Michael, and Ina as friends_

_-Friends move away in 4th Grade for mysterious reasons_

_-Graduated, enrolled in Blue Ridge Middle_

_-Reunited with Michael and Ina in 6th Grade, school dance_

_-Proceeded through middle school without incident_

_-Edward comes back during 8th Grade year, group is reunited._

* * *

"Huh, this doesn't make sense. Both of these stories line up really well." Ninten muttered to himself. "Apart from the middle child and Meryl bit."

Ninten took one last look at his notes again. The way both of these stories were so similar apart from the minor details, maybe they are just the same story. And those miscellaneous bits could just be false recollections. Ninten was so entwined into this work, he didn't notice Travis and Ness entering back into the cabin. When their presence became apparent, Ninten quickly shoved the notes under the table, only to fail horribly.

"I couldn't have said it better myself actually." Travis admitted. " You really are something Ninten."

"See, Ninty? See what happens when you actually put your mind to something?" Ness complimented.

"Well, I, uh...came to get my Oreos. And Travis made a mess on the wall. I just thought to save him some time. By the way, did you know that both sides of the story line up really well?"

"Except for the part where Travis, wait, he had another sibling?" Ness puzzled "I thought you told me it was only Zack."

"I don't think Zack know either for some reason."

"What about Meryl?"

"Don't know where she'll fit."

"Maybe you guys just were acquaintances. Maybe you were madly in love with Ina." Ninten joked.

"I doubt it. But it's there if it is true."

"Travis I'm really curious what you life was like. I'll keep helping you until you find out."

Travis went back to the wall and observed the evidence he scattered all over the place while Ness and Ninten discussed possible scenarios for each event. Whether they were on step closer to a revelation or were far from it was unknown. But at least they had something to work with. Now all that's left to do is survive alongside Mementos.


	6. Wavelength

Oh Meryl, aren't you just a cute little darling. How about dinner at my place?" A random kid said.

 

"Thanks but no thanks, pisspot." Meryl responded rudely.

 

"Just you wait, Meryl. I will make you mine."

 

It was a school dance. Unlike all the other teenage girls there, she came alone. Not bad, considering she just moved on to 6th grade. Still, she didn't want to be made fun of for going alone. Or even worse, going with her dad; a rumor that always spreads when someone goes to the dance alone.

 

Meryl wandered around the gymnasium, looking for something to do or a place to hide out. It was at that time when she caught sight of a boy. Nothing extravagant about him. He was sitting alone, picking at a piece of cake with his plastic fork. Something urged her to talk to him, so she went and sat next to him on the floor.

 

"Hello, anyone in there?"

 

No response. Meryl knocked on his head and waved her hand in front of his face, but didn't get so much as an annoyed moan. She resorted to taking his cake, which triggered and immediate response.

 

"Hey! Give it back!"

 

"Not until little brown haired nugget gives me what I want!" Meryl taunted.

 

"What then?"

 

"I want you to tell me what's wrong."

 

The boy was confused. He'd expected Meryl to ask for money or answers to a math test. But no, she wanted to know what's wrong.

 

"Are you okay?" Meryl asked.

 

"Do you really want to know?"

 

Meryl nodded.

 

"My best friend. He's been missing for about two years. Plus, I get the feeling that my parents don't love me."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"My parents are trying to turn me into my older brother. You know how like parents do that, right?"

 

"And what about your best friend?"

 

"He's gone missing. He's the only person who really understands me and has always been there for me. I don't know what I'll do without him."

 

"I'll help you."

 

The boy looked up in surprise.

 

"I'll help you out in your life. And I'll help you look for your friend. Is that okay?"

 

"What's the catch?"

 

"I just want to be your friend. What's your name?"

 

"Travis."

 

"I'm Meryl. Now I bet you want this cake." Travis nodded. "Give me your fork."

 

Travis handed over the fork. Meryl took a piece off of the cake.

 

"Say ah!"

 

"Ahhhh..." The fork went into Travis's mouth. He closed and felt the sweet sensation of the cake's flavor.

 

**[]**

**[FLASH]**

**[]**

Meryl awoke in bed. She saw Floyd attempting to paint a picture while Fuel was observing a disassembled, and possibly ravaged, radio. Its parts were thrown all over the place, but for some reason it was still able to pick up radio frequencies. Music was playing, although faintly and with loads of static.

 

"Can you turn that off?" She asked.

 

Fuel nodded and hastily turned off the radio, making more of a mess than what was already present.

 

"Also Floyd? Your painting is very ugly and it sucks. You should try to write stories once in a while."

 

"Bah! Some incompetent individual I see. Writing is not an art. Drawing, and painting is an art. All the delicate strokes and the fine brushes of color...!"

 

"Yeah stop with the European talk, you dipshit. You've never written a story before in your life so don't at like you know it all."

 

"Sorry..." Floyd sulked in defeat. He took his painting down, crumbled it up, and threw it in the trash.

 

"And look at the mess you've made, Fuel!" Meryl scolded. "All of that garbage for just trying to turn off a radio? Shame on you."

 

"Sorry Meryl." Fuel muttered dejectedly.

 

"You two boys disappoint me." Meryl gave them a hard stare, like a mother trying to guilttrip their child. With every ticking second, the two boys exchanged nervous glances and eventually began to sweat. Meryl crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

 

"And I still love you both!"

 

Floyd understood that Meryl did this all the time as she embraced him. Fuel, having only met the duo just recently, was confused beyond all reason. Matter of fact, in that moment, he looked like he's seen a ghost.

 

"Uh, Meryl? I think you broke Fuel. Also who names their child Fuel?"

 

Meryl went over to the shaking child and patted him on the head to ensure that everything was okay. Then she massaged his shoulders to ease the tensions out of him.

 

"He'll live."

 

"So... what now?" Floyd asked.

 

"Oh, I know!" Fuel sprung up. "Let's go see Lucas and Claus!"

 

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

 

The twins’ parents went out on an important military meeting. The Confederate States were planning to make their move on Union territory and that needs to be prevented at all costs. However given that the Confederates are now being supplied by a new party, it seemed inevitable that they would eventually make it to Tazmily.

 

It would take a miracle to win this war.

 

The East was at a serious disadvantage. Europe did not want to meddle in Pleiadean affairs and refused to give assistance, even though the USP was the head of the United Nations. Meanwhile, the West was receiving help from friendly Asian nations. On top of that, many Private Military Companies are joining the Confederate cause. Every ticking moment, the battle lines are being pushed back and there was no hope for a future under the Union.

 

Lucas isolated himself from his twin in order to finish his Father/Spacetied fanfiction before he was killed in a sudden crossfire, or the house is set one fire, or whatever came to bring him death. Of course, Claus being the stubborn idiot he is, took time off from observing maps and military tactics to annoy his younger twin.

 

“Hey Lucas! Whatya writing?” he asked.

 

“Nothing important. Now go away.”

 

“Well, if it’s nothing important…then why are you writing it?”

 

“Claus, just stop. Please go away…”

 

“No. I didn’t throw my life into the street, then fly halfway across the world just for you tell me to go away.” Claus slammed open the door and marched into the room. “I’m gonna know no matter what you say!”

 

“Claus no!”

 

Claus picked up Lucas and threw him onto the bed. He began reading Lucas’s fanfiction titled “For the Hope of Dreams”. It was about all of the major characters of the Father series, but interpreted in a different way: a school setting. They all live normal lives until they find out that they have magical abilities and their lives go downhill after that.

 

Lucas buried his face into a pillow. “Go ahead, make fun of out.” His muffled voice said.

 

“Actually, Lucas. I almost teared up. This is a really good story. Of course, I just skimmed over it, but…”

 

Lucas raised his head from the pillow. “You really think so…?”

 

“Hey, when everything calms down, I’ll read it for real. By the looks of it, it’s really good.”

 

Lucas about to thank the kind words of his twin, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. They made themselves look somewhat presentable before answering the door to Meryl, Floyd, and Fuel. They were welcomed inside and treated to an early breakfast. Afterwards, Claus couldn’t help but discuss the upcoming threat to all their well beings.

 

“The Confederate Army will be here soon.” Claus reminded. “How we deal with them is…questionable.”

 

“I was about to say, what can kids like us do? It’s not like we’re anything special.” Floyd commented

 

“You’re not anything special.” Meryl corrected. “The rest of us have PSI.”

 

“Forget it. You guys have your little psychic talk. I’ll just go.” Floyd took his foodstuffs and exiled himself to the living room.

 

“Back to the topic at hand. The West grows stronger and stronger each day. And if something doesn’t happen to prevent that, they’ll devour the Union. Then people like us will be hunted down and sold like toys.” Claus spat.

 

“Relax, Claus. You need to have faith in your country. They’ll pull through. I promise.” Meryl reassured.

 

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

 

Meryl shook her head. “Don’t guilt trip us. With that kind of attitude, how are you going to get anywhere in life?” She shoved her plate forward to indicate that she was finished, then went to the living room to accompany Floyd.

 

Floyd sat on the couch, picking at his food but not actually eating it. He eventually gave up trying and set it aside. Meryl took a seat to his left.

 

“You have business with me? The boy who can’t use PSI?”

 

_Wow, he’s still mad about that?_ Meryl thought.

 

“Hey, Floyd? Are you there?”

 

“I wish I wasn’t.”

 

“I wanted to say sorry.”

 

Floyd looked up in surprise.

 

“Yes, you may not know PSI. But still, you’ve helped us along the way all the time. I think the only reason why the four of us stayed together is because of you. I think Travis will agree too.”

 

“Travis?”

 

“Yes Travis. He knows that you don’t think highly of yourself because you’re different than all of us. The last thing he needs is you…you just breaking down into sadness.”

 

“Travis is gone.”

 

“See? There you go again. Can you just look on the brighter side of things for once? He might be out there somewhere. He might still be alive and healthy, and he might be looking for us right now.”

 

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

Travis sat at the cabin’s desk trying to piece his life together.

 

Ninten and Ness watched him as he slowly lost his sanity. Often times, they recommended that he go to sleep, not to figure out more, but to just make sure he’s not going to die of stress.

 

One thing that wasn’t accounted for was the tests and experiments that the doctor claimed that Travis was a part of. At the same time, there were many gaps in his life, but he couldn’t line up those events together. So there was something the radio was missing. Some hidden frequency that the radio couldn’t account for.

 

Travis thought back to what his “subconscious” said to him back at the Hospital. Something about memory alternation. Maybe his memories were changed into something more normal. The reason is to probably prevent him from disclosing the information of such tests. With first hand knowledge of all of the experiments they did, he’d be considered a threat.

 

Maybe he was just overthinking everything.

 

Travis decided to stop for the day and plummeted face first into his bed.

 

“Are you finally done?” Ninten asked. “I was getting worried for a while.”

 

Travis muttered something inaudible.

 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Ninten sat on his bed as Ness took to the desk and did something of his own. “So, any luck? With anything?”

 

“No.” Travis’s voice was still muffled, but the response was comprehendible.

 

“Seriously dude, take a break from this. Too much stress is gonna kill you.”

 

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before, hasn’t killed me yet.”

 

“Well, uhh… just relax for a while, then get back to it. Besides, we’ll be at Pleiades soon and you need to enjoy the trip.”

 

Ninten and Ness engaged in conversation. Travis reburied his face into the bed and tried to fall asleep. However, his efforts were interrupted by the voice in his head.

 

_Hey!_

Travis could hear it. The voice. He turned over to lay on his back. “What?”

 

_It’s me! Your subconscious!_

“O-kay…? So… you’re not my subconscious but someone messing inside my head.”

 

Ness took notice of Travis talking out loud and informed Ninten. “Uh, Travis? Who are you talking to?”

 

“The voice inside my head.”

 

_Nice going, dipface._

“Well can we communicate with the voice inside your head too?”

 

“Hey, they wanna talk to you too. Can you do something about that?”

 

_Fine._

Before the three of them, a dark homunculus figure formed in the center of the room. Its features were clear, and its eyes were a piercing white.

 

_Hi, I’m the voice inside of Travis’s head! Nice to meet you!_

“Uh, nice to meet you too…?” Ness said.

 

_Well Travis, I just came to tell you something. So… go see Ed, Mike, and that one Asian girl. See whatever you can find out and then line it up with your stories._

“And why should we trust you? You could be lying to us.”

 

_This isn’t the Wavebond you frick. Just do as I say and everything will make sense soon._

“Okay, but who are you really?”

 

_Save your breath asking questions to Ed, Mike, and that one Asian girl. Now, WHOOSH!!!_

The dark homunculus being dissolved into thin air. Just in time too, Michael came in to check up on them.

 

“We’re at the Confederate States.”


	7. Connection

“Are you sure you’re not suffering amnesia again? Your last name isn’t Dreamcast.” Michael expressed.

“Positive.” Travis replied.

“Well uh, your last name isn’t Dreamcast. It’s Windrop. That’s what I’ve been told.”

“No pretty sure it’s Dreamcast.”

Their superiors went head to the capital in order to announce their presence to the country, as well as the services they were ready to provide. Various dock hands were unloading boxes off of their cargo ship. Travis had taken the little homunculus’s advice and tried to wring out the story of his life, but so far Michael was on the side of Travis Windrop.

“Whatever your last name is, I can tell you that whatever you’re dreaming is still just a dream. Doesn’t make it real. One thing’s for sure, you’ve always been in love with Ina. But ever since she had been separated from you, you found someone else to be with. Someone named Meryl Strachan.”

“Meryl Strachan?” Travis asked, playing dumb.

“She was part of a wealthy family back in England. She moved to America with her father in order to further her education in the nations top schools. However, despite her initial social status, many private schools rejected her, and she ended up going to Blue Ridge with you.”

“You’re surprisingly well informed.”

“Well I do plan on becoming an analyst in some government soon. Best to start now.”

“I hear one of the traits for working with any government organization is not to lie.”

Michael eyed Travis suspiciously while Travis tilted his head in various ways. Both dismissed the fact as Michael pulled out a set of pictures.

“These were from the hospital. The Mementos team did a sweep to cover up any tracks you’ve left behind. These were lying on the ground next to your bed.”

Travis took a look at the pictures. They were almost identical to the ones he saw back at the hospital, but there were a few differences. There were three people this time, not including himself. Probably Edward and Michael. But the third one was a girl. Asian descent. She was present in the romantic date picture too.

“Who’s that one? Is she Ina?”

“Yeah. You’re a lucky man, Travis. She’s really stingy.”

“Yeah I figured.” Travis took the pictures from Michael and looked on the back. As expected, there was writing.

_Good Luck, Travis!_

_-Edward, Michael, Ina_

And the scribbling of pen over something else didn’t go unnoticed either. Something didn’t add up here. But the memory was too vague to remember.

Before Travis could ask anymore questions, he was interrupted with screams of death and gunfire.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Michael stated. “Stay close.”

Michael drew his gun and advanced over to the initial point of gunfire. There stood several Union soldiers taking cover from fire.

“You two get ready to move up to that box.” The commander ordered as more of his men were shot dead. “Get ready to move up to that box there. Ready?”

Most of his men were dead.

“Dammit. Alright, open fire! Shoot, shoot!” He ordered to his deceased men as he retreated.

“Must be a small army up there.” Travis muttered to himself.

Michael hid behind the boxes and reached for his gun. He was interrupted by a female voice.

“Nah ah ah. Come out, or I’ll shoot those boxes you’re hiding behind.”

Michael holstered his gun and came out in the open. “Wouldn’t want that.”

The female enforcer observed Michael for a few minutes. “Ah, American? CIA? My sources did not tell me anything about an agent like you around.”

“I’m on vacation.” Michael said bluntly.

“Well tell me why you and your friend his here. He is right behind you, no?”

Travis came out from behind the boxes. He stood side by side with Michael.

“Hmm. He does look quite familiar. Almost like the boy who went missing nine months ago.”

“I’m sorry what? Nine months ago?” Travis asked.

“Enough of that. Are you here for the scenery? Or are you here to catch a train, dahling?”

“Alright let’s just cut the bullshit. You’re here for the weapons shipments to CSA, so let’s not play games.” Travis stated.

“Dahling I do not play games. And apparently neither do you.” The enforcer said with a grin. “But we should talk. I do not want to shoot you. Because I have only so many bullets.”

“Could’ve fooled us.” Michael stated.

“I propose a truce. I am here for the same reason you are, to ship these supplies to the Confederacy. We both work together, we both get what we want.”

“Stay out of my way and we’ll get along fine.” Travis proposed.

“Hmph. I accept your terms. Do not harm my men and they will not fire upon you. Is it a deal?”

“Well considering that you have the drop on us…” Michael started.

“Fine, we accept your terms.” Travis interrupted. “Your callsign is SIE and I think you know who we are.”

SIE chuckled. “Oh my, Travis. You are such a hard kid to pin down. I think this partnership will work out. Now let’s stop the chit chat. I think we have company.”

SIE and her men took the high ground while Michael and Travis took cover behind a barricade.

“Travis, how do you know who she is?” Michael asked.

“Well you see, in the intelligence business, everyone knows each other. I’ve done my research. SIE is part of a PMC called Veteran Combat Initiative, which is just a branch of a bigger PMC called Phantom Wolves.”

“And why SIE?”

“Nobody really knows where she came from. She has a service record, but nobody has any personal information on her. Mysterious.”

“We better be careful.”

“No kidding.”

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

Lucas was on the computer all day. Reading the news, he found out that Confederate Forces have just received a supply contract from an organization called Mementos. Among them were former mercenaries and a few child soldiers, showing promise for extensive military operations. He skimmed through the article and found a couple names. Among then was a Travis Windrop.

“Hmm?”

“Oh Lucas!” Meryl exclaimed as she plopped on the couch next to him. “Whatcha reading?”

“Confederate news.”

“Ooo. Sounds interesting.” Meryl was hooked. “By the way, isn’t the Confederate web network secure? How did you get in?”

“Well I had bugs planted, or Claus did it for me.”

“Alrighty, let’s see here. Hmm. Travis? He’s here?”

“Guess so. Isn’t he your boyfriend?”

“Not yet, but one day.”

Just then, Lucas’s computer crashed. The TV in the living room sequentially turned on to static. It took a minute to clear up before Lucas and Meryl saw a someone. He looked old and he was accompanied by two soldier looking guys with multi lens helmets.

“Ryujin. I understand that you’ve placed monitoring software on our servers. I want you to delete them.”

“No I didn’t…” Lucas admitted.

“I did!” Claus announced as he walked into the living room. “Something wrong? Oh. Hi Albatross.”

“Albatross?” Lucas asked.

“He’s part with a covert terrorist organization called G22. Leader actually. I suggested him to Mom and Dad. So what’s up, old man.”

“People within an organization cannot keep secrets from each other Claus. Distrust is the last thin we need in the eyes of our leader. We’ve recently found your bugs on our servers.”

“And why should I delete them?”

“You have nothing to lose. G22 will continue supplying you the information you want. Just be honest.”

Claus smiled. He pulled out his phone and did a few swipes and taps. “There. All gone. I actually want to know how you managed to find them.”

“After the second one, we knew what we were looking for. We found all six of your bugs easily.”

“And you’ll keep getting Lucas the stuff he wants?”

“Promise.”

“We’ll be in touch Albatross. Tell Big Boss I said hi.”

The TV shut off and Lucas’s computer turned back to its former state.

“Claus, what’s G22? And why do you two know each other?”

“Well it basically boils down to this…”

* * *

_G22 was a covert terrorist organization led by the elusive Albatross. After the exposure of a government program named G19, it’s said that Albatross faked his death, changed his face and fingerprints, and formed this organization. Their main business is trading information and black-market supplies, although sometimes they go on covert missions to help or hinder certain factions. All in the interest of being the supplier of intelligence. They were recently annexed into a mother company named Phantom Wolves and operate independently of their hosts.  
_

* * *

“And when was G19 exposed?” Meryl asked.

“About a year ago, 10 months at the least.” Claus replied.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

Inside of a Confederate jail cell sat a man. He was a leader of a biker gang called the Zodiac. His gang was rivals of the one called the Neo-Confeds, and look where all that trash talk got him now. He was rotting away in a jail cell to be executed soon. Ride to live and live to ride, right? Well he’ll be riding soon to hell at some point.

Despite being the leader of a gang, he was actually a humble man at heart. He cares deeply about his comrades and feels remorseful when he had sacrificed many with no gain at all. He spared a traitor in his ranks, his right-hand man named Libra. He was a part of a four-man (one man and three kids) expedition to stop the Modern Minds from taking over Pleiades and served as a guardian to the kids, protecting them from harm. He just hoped that they were all okay.

“Psst!”

The man looked up. Someone was unlocking his jail cell. A boy that looked vaguely familiar. He unlocked the cell and let the man out.

“You may not remember me.” The boy said. “But I know who you are…Leo.”

Leo eyed the kid, moreso trying to figure out who he was rather than why he was here.

“You can thank me later, but listen. I need your help. Travis is in danger. He’s joining up with the Confederates.”

“You’re afraid he’s gonna get shot? Please, even though he bruises easily, he’s a tough nut.”

“No, actually.”

“Then what?”

“He’s been hanging around a bunch of shady people. Ed, Mike, and Ina.”

“Not sure about Ina. Travis did kinda have a thing for her.”

“Whatever. Just… I need your help.”

“Alright, what?”

“Come with me.”

Leo followed the boy. They evaded guards and navigated outside to the courtyard. Along the way, the boy explained the plan. Leo was to call the payphone operator and ask for a Mr. Brown. Next thing that would happen would be a bunch of tomfoolery with trucks and motorcycles. But he would receive a cell phone as well as other things to mask his identity.

“And what am I supposed to do with the phone?”

“It emits a radio signal. Travis has some sort of special connection with radio frequencies and the like. He’ll remember something, and then he’ll come back to us.”

“This all sounds like bullshit when you ask me.”

“Leo, listen to me. If we don’t do this, then…then Travis will lose track of who he really is. He’ll be dissolved into the lies of everyone there. And since we can’t prove anything otherwise, people will go along with flawed logic and the carefully crafted stories. They’ll believe the lies they’ve stirred up, and we’ll lose Travis forever.”

“I don’t like the sound of that. Travis was a good kid. I don’t want anything bad to happen to him.”

“Then help me, Leo.”

“If you’re lying…”

“I’m not lying.”

“I doubt that.”

“I didn’t have to free you. Don’t be ignorant. Or else you’ll end up like the Confederate leaders. They’re not really ruling. They’re puppets for the powerful few. Just like…yeah just like that. An ark to save people from tyranny of egocentric beliefs. But eventually he lost sight of his leadership and now he’s just being manipulated by others; his opinion shaped by others.”

“What are you talking about?” Leo asked.

“Oh, uh…nothing. Don’t worry about anything I’m saying. It’s nonsense. Just go.”

Leo complied and ran away from the jail, leaving the boy in the dust.

“Travis…I hope you’re okay.”

His worry was interrupted by a voice behind him.

“Ah, Zion. Dahling. I see you were the one who was causing the trouble here.”

“Actually, I was really subtle. Unlike you, SIE.”

SIE chuckled. “Hmph. If you’re wondering about your little friend. Well, I saw him accompany Michael to the capital. But of course, he did eye Michael suspicious a couple of times.”

“Is he okay?”

“For the time being. I’ll make sure the boy doesn’t get hurt. Not after what happened nine months ago.”


	8. Jamais Vu

Travis managed to ditch Michael, given the information provided by him was useless. He merged himself into the group visiting the palace, or rather what used to be the White House. By the orders of Tiberius and his father, Zack and Ina were to seal a cooperation alliance with Aloysius Minch, the current president of the Confederate States. Alongside them was Ness and Ninten and their sole purpose was to carry the lootbox consisting of one million dollars.

Upon walking into the palace, guards greeted them and a massive statue of Minch himself stood in the center of the room.

“Narcissist, much?” Travis heard Ninten mutter.

They were all guided to the oval office where they all agreed to meet. Zack and Ina sat in the two chairs in front of Minch’s desk. Guards covered every exit.

“Ah, so you’re Adenauer’s goons. What business do you have with me?” Minch started.

“We’ve come to secure a partnership. I hear you’ve taken a lot of Psionics into custody. I, uh...we would be willing to offer our services in exchange for their safety.”

“Hmm…yes. I do like a person who proposes a business proposition up front and cleanly. Now before we get any further, is there anything else that you know about us?”

Before Zack could answer, Travis interrupted. “I’ve discovered you’ve asked a lot of questions, and we’re not getting any answers.”

“Who is this boy?”

“Oh! Uhh, don’t mind him.” Zack hastily answered. “I haven’t heard much, other than you want to fight for states’ rights.”

“Yes that much is true, but there is a different goal…hey, isn’t that?” Minch saw Ness, who was sitting on the couch. “It’s not you, is it?”

Ness stood up and walked forward. “Yes, it is.”

“Ah. You know, I’ve loaned your father a lot of money. Could be a couple thousand or more. But I’m still waiting for him to pay it back. Do you know what your father is doing nowadays?”

“No…”

“Ah, that is a shame. For a second I was considering working with you until he got into the picture.”

“Well you didn’t have to notice him you know!” Ninten called from the back.

Minch ignored Ninten. “I guess it’s no deal then.”

“Wait!” Ina interrupted. “What can we do?”

Minch thought for a moment. “There is one possibility. We will cooperate on one condition. As soon as you see your father Ness, bring him before me.”

The room was silent. Travis broke the silence. “Well we’re done talking now so you can go fuck yourself.” He took Ness and Ninten by the hand and abruptly left the room.

“We have a deal.” Zack answered.

“Good good. I think this partnership will benefit the both of us.”

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

“Travis what are you doing?” Ness whispered. “Do you know who he is?”

“Only the biggest pain in my ass in the entire espionage business.” The brown-haired boy responded.

“You’re not even a spy.”

“I’m a lot better than you.”

Ness shook his head. “That’s not the point.”

“Then what is?”

“Yeah, I want to know too.” Ninten bud in. “You two must know each other from somewhere.”

“Forget it, you would never understand.”

“My dad hated me. Or so I’ve seen.” Travis said.

“Mine was never home.” Ninten added.

They exited the palace without incident and went back to the port where their ship was docked. They took to a local tavern and ordered drinks with Ninten eagerly providing the funds to purchase them. Ness took this time to explain the relationship between him and Aloysius Minch.

“Before this entire mess started, I used to live in Onett. Next door to that guy. My dad left for some reason. My mom said it was something about a loan and that my dad got a job somewhere else. I guess Mr. Minch is mad because dad didn’t pay back the loan. At least, that’s what I got out of it.”

“Sounds fun.” Travis commented sarcastically.

“Can you not?”

“Can I not what?”

“Whatever. Anyways, he’s got two kids. They’re both fat. The older one, well. Let’s just say that he’s a pain in everyone’s ass.”

“In the entire espionage business?”

Ness sighed. No point in telling him stop. “Yes, Travis. The biggest pain in our asses in the entire espionage business.”

The three boys enjoyed their drinks as they watched the national news. Apparently, the Union had already made it’s move to Fourside. Aloysius Minch had stated that he will be participating in the upcoming battle.

“That’s a twist.” Ness commented.

Aloysius Minch is also looking for a second in command. Two candidates have been selected. The first candidate was a man named Chris. He was well known among the higher ups as the best man for the job, being the head CEO of several businesses all at the same time. The second candidate was another man (or rather young adult, he’s in his early 20’s) named Colton. He was nationally popular among the general public.

“Hmm. Colton…” Travis thought.

“Something wrong?” Ninten asked.

“Yeah. I think I’ve seen him somewhere before. I just can’t put my finger onto where.”

“Maybe it’s just that you’ve heard about him in like gossip and all of that.”

“No, it’s like…maybe I know him personally.”

Before they could go any further, they were interrupted. “Ah, I see. You’re talking about the candidates, ja?”

“Yeah what’s it to you…oh it’s you.”

“Travis, dahling. Good to see that you’re okay. So you want to know more about Colton? I thought your memory might have jogged at this point.”

“Who’s this? And why does she know you?” Ness asked.

“They call her SIE. S-I-E, but pronounced zee. Dunno why. She’s a mercenary for VCI.”

“Pleasure the make your acquaintance. Now Travis, you want to know more about Colton, ja? Well I have some information for you here.”

SIE placed some documents on the countertop. “Get to reading now. And take care not to spill your drinks, dahling.”

The three boys began shifting through the documents. A general dossier was found, although by the looks of it, it was incomplete. Nothing about birth or service records, just what’s happened recently.

* * *

  _Colton Waters was a high-ranking official in an organization for Psionics experimenting. But after a massive controversy between the officials above him, the organization was compromised. Colton turned against his former superiors and planned for the destruction of the place. He formed a small militia and coordinated an attack. But at the time, he was unaware of the third party also attacking. While he did suffer a loss, his end goal was achieved, and the organization was wiped from the federal records._

_He started a new refuge for those sympathetic with his cause. It was also around this time where he rose to high levels of government positions, eventually catching the eye of Aloysius Minch himself. Being his most trusted executive officer, Minch has entrusted him with the command of the Confederate Army._

_It’s also stated that Colton was the one responsible for the permanent exile of a dangerous criminal from Pleiades, but many critics say that he was “convinced” to do so._

* * *

 “Sounds exciting.” Ness mocked.

“An organization for Psionics experimentation, huh. Yeah, maybe he does know something. I should ask him.” Travis suggested to himself.

“After what you said to the president, err… I’m sorry, his highness, I honestly don’t think he’ll let you back into palace grounds.”

“Well then I’ll just have to catch him outside of palace grounds. Shouldn’t be that hard.”

Ninten scooped up all the documents. “I’ll take these back to the ship. Don’t leave.”

Travis and Ness went back to watching the news. Votes were to be casted in the ballet boxes in designated areas of the Confederacy. The one who wins will be promoted by Minch and will receive executive powers over the whole Confederate States.

“That’s a dangerous power to give. Are they sure they wanna do that?” Travis asked.

“He’s a dictator. He can do whatever he wants.”

“And that also means…maybe they’re spying on us.”

“What?”

“Maybe Colton or some other person is spying on us. Like making sure we’re not out of line or something. I wouldn’t deny the possibility. I just…”

“Just what..?”

“It’s just a feeling. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, whatever you say dude.”

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

The next morning, everyone a part of Mementos was informed that they were heading into battle in the next upcoming days. Preparations were to be made quickly, as they would need to march by this afternoon.

“We’re seriously doing this?” Travis asked Zack.

“Yeah. After your outbreak yesterday, we’re in a tight spot.”

“No, it’s whoever thought it was a great idea to bring Ninten and Ness along’s fault that you’re in this mess. Was it you?”

Zack went silent and Travis internally celebrated his small victory.

“Also who’s bright idea was it to bring along child soldiers?”

“You won’t be participating in battle. We just need you to help supply the front lines.”

“Whatever.”

Travis continued helping the others load up for the march. Guns, rations, whatever an army needs to keep fighting. Trucks came in and out of the port and everything was just loud and obnoxious.

In an act of subtlety, Travis dragged Zack away from his duties. “We need to talk.”

“About what?”

“You’ve heard about the upcoming elections? With Chris and Colton?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I just have this feeling. Like I know Colton from somewhere.”

“Like Déjà vu?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t really know. Look, what I’m asking is that…well, can I talk to him?”

“Well you’re in luck, baby brother. I spoke with him yesterday. He said he will be in the Fourside battle. It shouldn’t be too hard to convince him to talk with you. But can I ask why?”

“I read his file, uh…I’ve read up on him. He was responsible for the destruction of a Psionics experimentation program. Maybe he has something related to my past.”

“Travis, when will you stop?”

“Huh?”

“Stop with this goose chase of ‘I have amnesia and now I have to figure out my past’. I’ve told you the entire story. And if you think I’m lying, ask anyone else and they’ll tell you the same thing.”

“Or maybe it’s all one massive lie. Maybe you’re all in this act too.”

Zack’s demeanor fell. “No…?”

“I saw a third brother. At the hospital. Black hair, green shirt.”

“No Travis, it was just me, Mom, and Dad.”

“Sure.”

“Travis I’m not lying to you.”

“Yeah you are.”

Zack shook his head. “Maybe those nine months really got to you. You don’t even trust me anymore. What’s happened to you?”

“You figure it out, big bro. And when the truth comes out and I find the third brother, I will get my revenge. Until then, I hope you sleep with one eye open.”

“I’ll have my team protect me, so don’t try anything.”

“I think I can handle a bunch of guys in bad track suits.”

Zack waved him off and went back to work.

_Well done._

“It’s you again.” Travis said to the voice in his head.

_Looks like Colton might provide some information you need to know. But hey, I’m just something inside your head so what do I know?_

“So what’s next?”

_See what you can find out. Maybe it could jog your memory. And remember…_

“Remember what?”

_No Wowee._

“Wowee? What’s that?”

_Only the biggest pain in my ass in the entire private forces business. It’s probably some kind of special power. Take my advice and don’t say the word. You’ll be in for trouble._

“And in this battle. What if I need to use my PSI?”

_Just call it VOX. Voice Operated Switch._

“Switch starts with an S.”

_Just do it._

“Alright. Anything else that I need to know?”

_Nothing you can’t find out on your own. Godspeed, Travis._

“Talk to you soon.”

Travis exited his hiding place and went back to work. The upcoming battle might determine his fate. But he’s better off dead then just a mindless bloke asking “Why?” He decided to play along for right now, until he is certain of his past. And when he does figure that out.

_I’ll take everything from them._


	9. Solid State Mind

“Haha yes! I’ve finally got their attention! Now it’s only a matter of time. For now, I think antagonization would do.”

“Huh? Boss are you talking to yourself again?”

“Oh, dammit! Uhh, whatya need soldier?”

The soldier shifted from his casual stance to his professional stance. “It’s about the battle taking place at Fourside.”

* * *

 Travis awoke. However, instead of being in the caravan alongside Mementos, he was stranded in a desert. For miles he saw nothing but sand and sand hills. The sun was sinking into the horizon. He got up from the ground and wandered around. Maybe he was accidently abandoned in the desert by his companions. However, seeing that Fourside would’ve been in sight if that was true led him to believe otherwise.

After a solid five minutes of wandering, Travis noticed something out of the ordinary. Footprints. He checked the soles of his shoes to make sure he wasn’t delusional. Luckily, to his sanity, they didn’t match, which meant that there was someone nearby. Tailing the footsteps, Travis eventually found someone sitting on the side of a sand dune.

_What’s he doing all the way out here?_

Travis slowly approached the stranger. The stranger acknowledged Travis’s presence, and the boy took a seat next to him.

“Hi, Travis. Back from the dead huh?”

“What do you mean back from the dead?” Travis asked.

“Thanks for coming for me. You really do care!”

“What? What are you talking about?”

**[]**

**[FLASH]**

**[]**

Travis awoke for real this time. He was sitting in a chair outside of someone’s office. The name on the door read “Colton Waters”.

_That’s right. I wanted to talk to Colton and see if he had any insight on my past._

Not shortly after, the door opened and out went an older man. A kid with dirty blonde hair came out and acknowledged Travis’s appointment. “Your turn.”

Travis was led inside of the room. It wasn’t anything spectacular, just heavily decorated like the way a Captain’s Cabin would.

“Hello, Mr. Waters, sir. My name is Travis.”

Before Travis could go any further, Colton interrupted. “Uhh, Colton is fine. And that ‘boy’ over there is Raz.” He pointed to the dirty blonde-haired kid, and he waved.

“I’m getting a sense of déjà vu here.” Travis muttered to himself.

_You’re not the only one. Now go on, ask._

“So, uhh. I hear that you were the one who took down that Psionics Experimental Organization or something. Around nine months ago?”

“Wait hang on a sec.” Colton pulled out his phone. He slid his thumb vertically upwards on the screen. “Ha! Gotta let everyone know!” With more swiping fingers, he began typing something. Thanks to the window behind him, Travis was able to see what he was doing.

It looked like some sort of group chat. Into the text box, Colton typed “he unfriended me lmao”

Responses came instantaneously. None of them negative. Something along the lines of albatrosses dying? Lying, swindling? It was all too complicated, and responses came at top speed.

“So, uh, about that thing nine months ago?”

“Oh yeah! I remember that! What about it?”

“Well I just so happened to fall into a coma around the same time. Are these two events somehow connected?”

Colton looked over Travis for a second. “Dunno and duncare. I don’t really care about your story or this story we’re in right now. Just wanna get back to captaining the Wavebond. It’s better for me, right Raz?”

“I don’t care about this story either!” Raz exclaimed. “Once it’s over, back to our normal lives. Haha!”

“Urf. Well this is pointless, I’m going.”

Travis rose from his chair and showed himself out.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

“Looks like they took the bait.”

“Wait bait, sir?” someone asked.

“Hehe, that’s not important. What is important though is making sure that Minch doesn’t leave here alive.”

As the Union Army were setting their formations, Zack watched from outside of Fourside. The Mementos staff were busy readying the caravan for supplies. There was a unit on the front lines already holding out. It be a shame if they were late.

“Zack.”

Zack turned around and saw his younger brother. “What’s up Travis?”

“Colton wasn’t much help. Hell, he straight up just interrupted our conversation and just ‘unfriended lmao’”

“Well, what can you do?”

Travis shook his head. “Zack listen, I mulled it over for a bit. Yeah you’re lying to me about my past, but there’s got to be some valid reason to it. You know about what actually happened, but you’re not telling me. Why?”

“I guess I can’t keep this up forever.” Zack admitted. “Yeah I have a good reason, but we’ll talk about it later.”

“Promise?”

“Promise. Right now, just focus on your job, okay?”

It was at this time where Aloysius Minch decided to show up.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

From the encampment outside of Fourside stood Aloysius Minch. The Union Coalition was approaching fast. Everyone watched in horror as the massive army approached their positions. From the cliff, it looked like they were preparing siege weapons. All and all, their current situation seemed dire.

“Look at those fools try to unite against me and my dreams of paradise! They will pay!”

Minch’s outburst caught the attention of Travis and the others.

“It looks like I don’t have much choice. Let them have Fourside. Who needs the capital when you have the emperor?”

 _Correction, Union City is the capital and you’re the emperor._ Travis thought.

“You Mementos lot! Make sure you get us to Union City before they break through Fourside Gate.” He ordered.

“Help you escape?” Travis asked. “I’d rather fight and die here.”

“Shut up and do as I say! You will protect me, understand? What’s taking so long, open the gates!”

The gate to the encampment opened and the Confederate forces began marching.

“I don’t have time to deal with these imbeciles!” Minch declared. “Fall back to Fourside, and begin the retreat to Union City!”

Unable to voice their opinions on the matter, the Confederate Army advanced towards Fourside. Along the way, they were forced to battle against Union Captains pre-stationed there. Although not much of a fighter, Travis managed to hold his own in battle with his trusty bat. At times, he had to intervene in order to rescue Ninten and Ness. Although they did defeat an evil space being before, the concept of war was still very much foreign to them.

It was only a short trek towards when they were greeted by a messenger.

“My lord, Fourside is in flames!” the messenger reported.

“What did you say! I never expected that out of them.” Minch replied.

“The unit on the front line is still fighting hard, can we go meet up with them in order to regroup?” Zack asked.

“Bah, I’m getting out of here! I’ll break through Fourside Gate if I have to!”

And so the Confederate Forces turned around. They broke through Fourside Gate, but their advance was hindered by the assault from the siege weapons on the cliff.

“Gah! This is pointless! You there!” Minch pointed to Travis. “Go to the cliff and deal with those pesky imbeciles!”

“Come on, little brother. We’ll go together.” Zack reassured. He motioned for Ninten and Ness to come too.

They advanced up the cliff and towards the siege weapons. However…

“They are aiming for the siege weapons, just as I anticipated. Now rush their main forces down!”

Calvary Units appeared from the garrison, charging through the sloppy formation.

“We have to hurry it up. Minch will get trampled.”

Zack helped his followers up the cliff towards the siege weapon. They quickly dispatched of the forces there and saw the situation from atop the cliff. Horses scattered the army, as one cavalrymen charged towards Minch. Without thinking, Travis mounted the siege weapon, and fired at the hostile forces.

“No, that’s not good enough. Here.” Ness motioned. “PK FIRE!”

Ness summoned fire from his hands and imbued the projectiles with the element. This helped dispatch the cavalry, and they retreated from the flames. They returned from the cliff.

“What took you so long? What would you do if something happened to me?”

They continued the advance towards the Threed gate, where Union Forces have set up a base of operations. Standing at the gate that separates them was a gatekeeper. Long black hair, slightly taller and looked somewhat older than Travis.

“Hello there. Where is Aloysius Minch going off to in such a hurry?” he said.

“That’s none of your concern. Step aside or die.” Travis replied.

“Aww, that’s not the Travis I knew.”

“Wait what?”

The gatekeeper pulled out his sword. “En garde!”

“I don’t have time for this.” Travis charged at the gatekeeper and shoved him aside. He proceeded through the gate to Threed.

“Hmm. Maybe another time then?”

Travis led the forces through the blockade. They battled against Union Forces and regrouped with their front-line forces.

“I was starting to get bored.” Tiberius said. “But then the shining knight comes to save me like an obedient subject does.

“I didn’t come here for you. I came here because I was forced to. Now hurry up and secure the front lines.”

They battled and battled to no avail, holding the lines until the Confederate main unit arrived. They retreated through Threed.

“Bwahahah! That’s the spirit guys! Only idiots fight battles where the odds are against them.”

Travis turned around and walked away. “So this is how he fights his battles.”

“Hey little brother, where are you going?” Zack asked.

“One thing I hate more than my life is serving under a pig like him. Can we please just go back to whatever hellhole we came from?”

“Travis, it’s for the Psionics. Come on, we have no choice. If we don’t get involved, more and more people die each day.”

“What about now? We’re fighting a fool’s war, and for what? To enslave others for our own lust for power? There’s something wrong with this entire deal and you know it.”

“But…”

“Everything that’s happened so far. He’s just using us. Psionics mean nothing to him and he’ll probably enslave us if he could.”

“Travis? Are you okay?”

“I really just wanna die. My life was probably meaningless before and it’s still meaningless now.”

“Hey, don’t be like that. I’ll stay right here with you, little brother. Just please don’t die on me.”

They both headed back towards the main unit, where some soldiers have two people, one male and one female, restrained.

“These really are the resistance leaders?” Minch asked.

“There’s no mistaking it.” The corporal replied. “Hinawa and Flint.”

“Perfect. Without their leaders, they won’t last much longer. My dreams of paradise will finally be realized.”

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

“Tell me everything you know, Zack.”  Travis ordered.

“I can’t tell you everything because I don’t know everything. I’ll tell you as much as I can.”

Travis first asked for a third brother. Zack confirmed that there was one. Two years younger than him but two years older than Travis. Long black hair, and liked playing soccer. He was always absent from family photos because, well, he didn’t like taking pictures. Although there might be records of him in databases somewhere, you can’t find anything about him in yearbooks or sports rosters, not even a picture.

“His name was Chase. I have a picture of him somewhere.”

About Travis’s past. It was true that he was a test subject for government testing, however it wasn’t as severe as some may describe it. Simple stuff, like a demonstration of powers and their capabilities. He was under government protection (as with other Psionics), but a certain corrupt individual somehow got a bill passed through the House and Senate, calling for the rights to the lives of Psionics, to use their abilities to further their own research. A good idea on paper, but in practice, it was the equivalent of slavery. Hence the war they were fighting right now.

“I don’t know why you fell into a coma for nine months. Someone might know, but be careful who you ask.”


	10. Desperation

Hey you see this picture?

This picture is a lie. You don’t love me and my works aren’t good. At least have the guts to tell me that I’m a horrible human being and I should just give up trying to write my pathetic story.

Now if you excuse me, I have to put on a show of misdirected revenge and depression.

* * *

“This does not bode well.” Floyd observed.

Meryl agreed. “Yeah no kidding. Claus has been upset ever since we got back.”

It’s been roughly two days since they’ve returned from Fourside. While the Union Army won the battle and took the city, they’ve suffered heavy loses from the retreating army. That combined with the fact that they torched the city to stop the Confederate retreat left no resources remaining for Union usage. The killing factor was that during the midst of the battle, Union Commanders Hinawa and Flint were captured. Morale was dropping at an accelerating rate, and it was ensured that defeat was at hand unless something was done.

Naturally, Claus took control of the army as it were a royal hierarchy. At one point in time, he had commanded the PMC he was captured by. That organization was disbanded a few years later, but leadership came naturally to him and the Union Army had no better alternatives. The self-appointed commander ordered for the remaining forces to regroup at the nearest outposts and prepare for a full offensive.

“Claus, why are you doing this? Everyone’s lives will be in danger.” Lucas objected.

“I’m not sure if you see it but, well, we’re losing the war. A sacrifice of a few soldiers for the lives of future generations. Come on, Lucas. You of all people should understand that.”

“But that’s not the problem Claus. They’re coming back. The enemy. They’re gonna come back stronger than ever before. They’re gonna retake their outposts.”

“Well then, Mr. I play everything safely, what do you suggest we do?”

“Everyone needs to come back to Tazmily and defend. It would be a lot easier than having our forces spread out and isolated like that. If we hold out long enough, maybe something could happen, or someone can come to our rescue.”

“See that’s your problem.” Claus gave Lucas a light shove. “You always leave everything up to chance. When are you going to realize that nothing will happen if you sit around and do nothing? You’re expecting God, or Izayoi, or whatever the hell we believe in; you’re expecting them to just ‘bestow upon thee the ultimate power and all who challenge you shall fall’? Well, news flash, it’s not happening.”

“And you…!” Lucas stood eye to eye with his twin. “You always do this. You don’t care about your own safety, or the safety of others. You just throw yourself onto Death’s door and get yourself hurt. I worry about you Claus, I really do. I worry that one day, you’ll just go out and…I don’t know, you won’t come back. We find out that you died because you did something stupid. It’s bad enough already that you do it. Why would you want to do something like throwing everyone else in danger?”

“We have to do something! If we’re going to die, then let it be with honor.” Claus yelled.

“But where’s the honor in dying for a lost cause? At least if we stick together, we might have a chance of holding out.”

“Lost cause or not, I’d rather die in battle than at the hand of the executioner. That’s the way of the warrior. I won’t give up, no matter what hardship I face! People would agree with me too, just ask them.”

“No they won’t. Claus, I know you don’t mean that. It might be the way of the warrior, but what’s the way of Claus?”

“The way of Claus? Claus is a warrior who would devote his life to his cause. And die for it.”

“It’s a lost cause. Even if you just waste your life away, waste everyone’s life away, we still lost. I’m not saying we surrender, I just want our people to be safe. Because if everyone dies in an offensive, we’ve still lost and…you’ll be gone again.”

“But…!”

“You know I’m right.”

Claus backed off. That warrior’s flame that have been burning inside of him. Extinguished. He sat down at the dinner table and rested his head in his arms atop the table. Lucas took to his side.

“I don’t want you to die. I don’t want anyone to die. Will you listen to me for once?”

“Lucas…” Claus muttered, voice muffled by his arms.

Lucas stroked his hand across Claus’s back. “I love you, and I don’t know what I do without you.”

Having watched the whole situation go from sour to depressing, Floyd and Meryl looked at one another with worried glances. They both had an unspoken agreement that this was a sign of bad things to come. Giving up wasn’t an option, but…

“I hope Travis is okay.” Meryl whispered.

“Me too. And I hope that there is a God out there watching over us. Just the slightest bit of hope would help us.”

Claus got up and marched to the door. Lucas caught him by the arm.

“I have to do something, Lucas. It might help us. Give me a chance.”

Lucas let go. “I’m not going to stop you, it’s your life. But what if I don’t see you again.”

Claus tilted his head slightly to the right as he thought. He then pulled his necklace from under his shirt and showed it to Lucas. It was Yang, or darkness as you will. Lucas had Yin, and the two necklaces would form the whole shape.

“I’ll come back for this.” Claus promised, giving his necklace to Lucas. “I just hope you don’t lose it. Until then, whatever our cause does is up to you.” Not looking back, Claus exited the house, mounted his horse, and rode off into the darkness of the night.

It was at this time when a Union Lieutenant came to see Claus, but noticing that he wasn’t there Lucas took the time to explain everything that’s happened so far, and that he’s been appointed the Commander in chief.

“So, Commander Lucas, what do you suggest we do?”

“Pull everyone back to Tazmily now. We need to hold out. And see if you can get in touch with G22. We could use some extra help right now.”

The lieutenant shifted. “With all due respect, sir. Pulling away from our outposts will allow the enemy to capture them and they’ll be able to surround us.”

“It’s better than having them cut us off from one another.” Lucas pointed out.

“You’re intending to take up a final defensive? Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. I’ll get the word out to everybody.”

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

Claus rode day in and day out.

He was able to survive on his own. He knew all about what berries to eat and not eat. He knew how to skin animals and properly prepare their meat for maximum nutrition. He knew how to hunt and scavenger out in the wilderness.

But when he came across Confederate controlled towns, surviving couldn’t get much easier. Aided by the cover of darkness, he took to the various food plantations and stole from their storehouses; items ranging from rice to bread, with everything in between. Slaves paid no mind to him, and most of the native inhabitants have not a clue of who he really was.

About a week of cross-continental, Pony Express style riding, Claus had finally reached his destination. The Confederate Army HQ. His parents had to be here, and if not, this army doesn’t know what they’re doing. They’ve captured the two most important people in the Union Army, so it be no surprise if they were here for torture and interrogation.

“Shadow Moses Island! A remote island off the coast of Alaska.” Claus looked around and felt déjà vu. He chuckled at the familiarity. “Or…not.”

Evading security, he took his time navigating the headquarters. He listened in for hints from the Confederate soldiers, and stole keycards from unexpecting patrols. Claus had received intel that prisoners were being held in Sector H, and they were planning to torture the two Union commanders today. The torture chamber had no places to hide, there were air ducts passing through the room.

Claus snuck to the ventilation room, climbed into the air duct and inched his way through to the torture chamber. He had a view of the room from the little vent gate. In the center of his room were his parents, tied to a chair half starved. Someone was coming in.

Enter Colton Waters and Raz.

“You guys enjoying yourselves? Or do I need to shove my tickle fingers in your asshole?” Colton asked.

Any mood of intimidation was now gone.

“What are you looking at me like that for? You should be scared! Do you realize what I can do to you in a snap of the fingers?”

Raz whispered to Colton. “Just do what we need to do.”

Colton recomposed himself. “We’re gonna torture you now, so…should we rub dead bird corpses all over you? Or maybe like, we make fun of you until you break?”

Hinawa and Flint exchanged confused glances.

“Here let me tell you the story of my life. So basically, I was the governor of a place to a bipolar ruler. Then he exiled me for no reason. I made a new place for everyone and that bipolar guy just died. Then there was this whole controversy with a bird and it got killed and its corpse stomped on repeatedly by everyone and…”

“Colton, I have a date with Proto. Can we hurry up?”

“Oh, uhh, sure. Hey come in now!” Colton motioned for the people still outside to enter. In came two people, a tall athletic looking guy and…

_That’s Travis._ Claus realized.

They wheeled in a cart with an electrocution torture device. The athletic guy winded up the machine and Travis grabbed the shock sticks and readied it to Flint.

“Nothing personal.” He said. “Honest. I hope you’ll forgive me after this.”

Travis pressed the shock pads against Flint, causing the man to grunt in pain. When he finally stopped, Flint spat near Travis’s feet.

“How could you do this? You’re just a child?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have a choice. Please don’t hate me. I’m really sorry.” Travis whimpered as he prepared to do it to Hinawa.

Claus decided to take action. He popped the vent gate off and it fell on Colton. Down he came as he threw the athletic guy on the ground and pulled a gun out to shoot him. Travis stood in front to stop him.

“Anyone but him. I don’t want to know what it’s like to lose my family. Just go.”

Claus gazed at Travis. He put the gun away, and Travis took to the athletic guy’s side. In came a sneak attack from Raz, who jumped onto Claus’s back. Claus unhooked his grip and kicked him in the crotch with his robotic leg. Raz only laughed.

“Things aren’t always what they look like.”

Claus shot his knee. Raz fell down, gripping the wound.

Freeing his parents, Claus helped them up and they expressed gratitude for his son’s deeds.

“Claus, you’re either very brave or very foolish. You shouldn’t have come.”

“Flint, we can scold our son later. We have to get going now.”

The alarm went off. Sounds of footsteps raced by with commands being barked by various people.

_We have an intruder in Sector H! All unit, on alert!_

Claus led his parents out of the room.

“Crazy son of a bitch.” Colton cursed. “Raz, are you okay?”

“I just wanted to spend time with Proto.”

Colton got up and gave pursuit to Claus.

“Hey Zack. Wake up.”

Zack regained consciousness. He looked at Travis, worried to death. “I’m okay but, who was that?”

“Just, someone I know from somewhere. Nobody important.”

“We gotta help Colton and them! Come on, let’s go.”

“No, we can just stay here. Let everyone else deal with it. Besides, I was…lucky. Yeah, lucky. Lucky that he didn’t shoot me or you. I don’t want to risk that again.”

“Okay little brother.” Zack shifted up. “But you know, we have to do something eventually. We can’t serve this guy forever. Or Mementos. We can’t keep this up forever. Maybe if…nah, we can talk about it later.”

Travis knew Zack was talking about rebellion, and he agreed that it should be carried out. But before they could ever do it, Travis wanted to find out as much about his past as possible. Maybe then, his loyalties can be swayed. But he’s already gotten a story straight, and the only thing to do is assume the rest.


	11. Intermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's just a short one for right now

His vision was hazy at first.

As it began to clear up, Travis made out what seemed to be an interrogation room. He was sitting in front of a well-dressed man with hair that looked like it was over-gelled. There was also that one-way window that was common in any interrogation room. But behind Travis was a massive display of screens. Information popped in and out, faces with notes pinned to them, locations, events, you name it.

“Psionic, huh?” The man said. “It’s really interesting how the government wants to protect you, er…your kind. Remember how this glorious country of ours was built?”

_Through greed and ambition._

“Very good. Looks like you’ve been keeping up in your classes.”

_I never had classes to begin with._

“Regardless, that’s one way to look at it. I think that this country was born out of the will of dominance, to break free from the colonial empires and become its own nation. It’s only a matter of perspective.”

_Getting a lecture on perspective from a blind man? That’s a start. Gonna teach me about ethnics next?_

“We’ve already gotten enough information on Psionics, thanks to you and some other test monkeys. And judging by the results, just…wow. We could make a fortune out of you guys. All you have to do is just agree to it.”

The man pointed his index finger upward and revolved it around an imaginary point.

“We’re recording this. Answer carefully. Will you join the…or no?”

Travis gave him a cold stare as his vision became hazy again.

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

“Travis? Hey wake up!”

His eyelids were heavy. His vision was hazy. He awoke to Ninten nudging on his arm. Ness sat on the other side of the room, fidgeting with his fingers.

“You’ve been asleep forever. We were getting worried.”

Travis sat up on his cot. He noticed that he’s just wearing his boxer shorts.

“Your brother dumped you off here like that. He also told us to wash your pants; gasoline got spilt on them for some reason.”

Travis got up and stretched. His groans and that awesome noise that your back makes when you wake up got the attention of Ness.

“Hey Trav. Colton said he wanted to see you whenever. Also put some pants on.”

“What? Never had No-Pants Sunday?”

“It’s Wednesday.”

“Sunday, Wednesday, same thing really. People go to church, get spiritual, all that jazz. Also you look like you’ve never ran throughout the house in your underwear before. It’s kinda fun, all that freedom.” Travis chuckled.

“Just go see Colton.”

“Fine.”

Travis put on some pants and left their quarters. He made a couple of turns in the maze of corridors before coming to Colton’s office. Letting himself in, Colton was awaiting his arrival. And as per se, Raz was with him.

“You wanted to see me?”

“You’re in a lot of trouble. Sit down.” Colton growled.

“Heh, I’m not surprised. What are you gonna do, ban me?”

“No, I’m just gonna give you the Big Fat Meanie Role. Ahem. Travis Windrop, I hereby give you the Big Fat Meanie Role.”

Several guards filed into the room. They restrained Travis.

“You know that orange haired kid. He’s with the resistance. We’re gonna torture you until we get an answer.”

**[]**

**[Section Break]**

**[]**

Having evaded the high alert security, Claus took the hands of his parents and led them through the forests that separated the Confederate Lines from the Union Lines. After putting a sizable distance between them and their foes, they set up camp in a clearing near a flowing stream.

“Claus, what you did was very brave.” Hinawa complimented.

“And very foolish.” Flint scolded. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”

“Dad I know what I was doing. I did this a couple of times.” Claus reassured. “And besides, it was foolish of you two to get yourself captured.”

_Good comeback, Claus._

“You’re not in trouble, Claus. But why did you come and save us?”

Claus hadn’t given it much thought. Still, he explained everything that’s happened after their battle in Fourside, from the dwindling army to his fight with Lucas. He admitted that he did this more out of anger rather than justice.

“He’s right about one thing.” Hinawa agreed. “We can’t just pray for miracles. We have to take actions to make things happen.”

“Lucas hasn’t understood it yet. But he’s doing the best he can until something can happen.” Flint added. “By the way, what is he doing.”

“A full out defensive in Tazmily.” Claus answered.

Both parents widened their eyes in surprise.

“He’s abandoning the key points. We could lose most of our resources to the enemy.”

“He sees it that the points being retaken is inevitable, so he wanted to minimalize casualties. He didn’t want to give up, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to risk anything.”

Flint stood up. “We have to go back to Tazmily soon. Before it’s too late.”

Hinawa agreed. “Lucas is in danger, along with the rest of our army. I have faith that he could hold it, but we’re better off if we were leading.”

A low chuckle emitted from the shadows. “Well put, Commander.”

A masculine figure emerged from the shadows. He was wearing a black surcoat and bore a letter in a robotic hand. The darkness still completely hid his face.

“Who are you?” Claus asked.

“That’s not important until later. I just came to deliver a message.”

Claus took the letter and unrolled it. At the same time, the messenger disappeared into the shadows.

_To Claus,_

_I don’t know what you’re up to, but I hope you’re not running away from battle. We’ve prepared defenses all around Tazmily and we’re ready to defend. G22 is here too, and their leader Albatross is leading the troop coordination. I’m doing all that I can to hold out as long as possible. Please just come back soon. I know you have a plan to turn this all around for us, so we’re gonna hold out for as long as possible. The fact that its winter and the water wasn’t frozen yet scares me. They might try something._

_And, I’m sorry Claus. I’m sorry for everything I said, everything I’ve done. I just hope that you can forgive me. I don’t hate you, but I’m not sure why I care about you if you don’t care about me. I just don’t want to lose you again, like we’ve lost Kin. I miss Kin, and I miss you too._

_Love (I hope),_

_Lucas_

Whether that last paragraph was a guiltrip or did he genuinely mean it was unknown. The three of them don’t remember anyone named Kin. But nonetheless, Lucas would be waiting for their safe return. They all hoped that their situation can be turned around for the better, and that they could win so nobody else has to suffer.

**Author's Note:**

> Coming up next:
> 
> Chapter 12: Karma Against Hard Invasion  
> Chapter 13: Lucas and Floyd's Fray


End file.
